Whenever I read about Tata Motors cashing in on the commercial success of Jaguar and Land Rover I can’t help but wonder whether Ford gave up the two brands too easily in 2008.
That’s because the current owner of the two British brands saw its profits jump threefold in the fiscal first quarter of this year on strong demand for Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles.
Tata Motors’ net income was boosted to 54 billion rupees ($883 million), the Indian company said on Monday, the biggest profit increase since the fourth quarter 2010. Tata Motors group revenue also rose 38 percent to 646.8 billion rupees ($10.5 billion).
Most of the merit belongs to premium division Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), whose sales in China rose 61 percent. JLR’s profit more than doubled to £693 million ($1.16 billion) on demand for the F-Type convertible and Range Rover SUVs.
Jaguar Land Rover deliveries also rose 22 percent to 115,596 vehicles in the quarter, fuelled by the F-Type and the refreshed Range Rover lineup. The company expects better results next year when the all-new Jaguar XE and Land Rover Discovery Sport go on sale.
However, things are not as good in India, Tata Motors’ home market, where the brand’s passenger-vehicle deliveries fell 37 percent in the fiscal first quarter, while truck sales dropped 25 percent.
The local business of Tata Motors reported a profit of 3.94 billion rupees ($64 million), but only after receiving a dividend of £150 million ($252 million) from Jaguar Land Rover.
Story references: Bloomberg
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