What's going on?

US carmaker Ford and Britain�s Jaguar Land Rover both applied sharp handbrake turns on Thursday � announcing job cuts in an effort to turn their businesses around.

What does this mean?

Ford�s trucks are all the rage in the US, but in Europe, it�s been struggling to find a path � and has been starting to lose money as well as market share in the region. Ford�s restructuring may see it shed thousands of jobs and even entire factories across the continent.


It�s a similar story at Jaguar. The UK�s largest carmaker plans to lose 4,500 of its 40,000 UK workers as part of a turnaround plan first announced after the firm�s fortunes declined sharply last year and it too began to lose money. Jaguar cited Brexit uncertainty and slowing demand from China for its sluggish sales.

Why should I care?

For markets: Cars are settling into a lower gear.

Figures out this week showed UK car sales falling for the second year in a row, seeing their largest drop since the 2008 financial crisis. And car sales in China, the world�s biggest vehicle market, declined for the first time in 20 years as economic growth there slowed (tweet this). None of this, however, stopped Germany�s Volkswagen from selling a record number of cars in 2018. 2019 could be crucial for auto traders: analysts expect the number of cars sold in the US to decline as tax cuts dry up and higher interest rates choke consumer spending. That�s just the way it goes in �cyclical� industries.

The bigger picture: Red light at the turnoff to transport�s future.

Several companies are aiming to bring electric (and/or autonomous) cars into the mainstream � and ride-hailing rivals Uber and Lyft are betting on millennials increasingly shunning ownership altogether. Both companies have initial public offerings planned for 2019 � but they might find the traffic jammed. With parts of the US government stubbornly shut down, regulators have yet to respond to the two companies� paperwork, leaving their applications stranded on the turnpike.