(Yicai) Oct. 25 -- The Chinese arm of UK luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover has confirmed that it will carry out an organizational restructuring at its integrated marketing and after-sales business but denied a large-scale layoff.

Integrated Marketing, Sales, and Service will undergo structure adjustments and staff optimization, Jaguar Land Rover China told Yicai, denying it will let go of most of its employees.

According to a recent social media rumor, IMSS will lay off over half its staff. All positions above department senior manager will be fired, while other managers are expected to be demoted.

Jaguar Land Rover is launching a series of measures to transform its operational and organizational structure to successfully introduce a brand-new venture model, according to materials Jaguar Land Rover China provided to Yicai.

IMSS will cut about 20 percent of its staff, with employees receiving compensations based on the ‘n+ 3’ principle, where n indicates the years of work, an insider at Jaguar Land Rover China told Yicai. The firm will combine departments, which will result in some positions to be canceled and others to be opened, the insider noted.

Jaguar Land Rover set up a 50:50 joint venture with Chinese automaker Chery Automobile in 2012.

Chery Auto proposed to take charge of the marketing and after-sales business of Chery Jaguar Land Rover because it claimed to be more familiar with Chinese customers, a source close to the matter told Yicai. But Jaguar Land Rover China did not listen, so the pair established IMSS.

Half of IMSS’ employees then signed contracts with Chery Auto and the remaining half with Jaguar Land Rover China, the source noted. This resulted in severe internal turmoil because the two companies had very different targets and interests.

Jaguar Land Rover sold 70,283 cars in China in the first nine months of the year, down 11 percent from a year earlier, according to the company’s latest financial report.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Futura Costaglione