But for the first six months of JLR’s financial year its revenue was still down, at £9.83 billion compared to £10.16 billion last year.
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India’s Tata Motors Ltd on Friday reported a 4.3 billion rupee ($65.4 million) net loss in the July to September quarter, dragged down by weaker sales in China and a one-time loss related to vehicles damaged in a port explosion.
Retail unit sales of the Jaguar-Land Rover division stood at 110,200 vehicles which earned the company a revenue of 4,831 million pounds as against 4,808 million pounds for the corresponding quarter previous year.
Analysts believe that the higher value of cars sold in China mean that, while the country only accounts for 20pc of volume sales, it makes up about 80pc of profits. Indeed, over half of our range transitioned to all-new or model-year upgrades during the period, including the new Jaguar XE, XF and XJ as well as the Land Rover Discovery Sport and the Range Rover Evoque.
“It is also encouraging to see overall sales in China picking up again, reflecting increased demand for the Range Rover Sport and Range Rover, as well as start of sales of the Jaguar XE”. Sales in North America were 23pc higher.
Tata Motors’s standalone India business reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of Rs 709 crore during the quarter with an Ebitda margin of 6.8 percent, which was an improvement of 840 basis points over the year earlier. Land Rover sales in the USA nearly doubled to 7,199 units last month, while Jaguar deliveries were broadly flat at about 1,000 vehicles.
It was buoyed up by soaring sales in the United Kingdom, Europe and the US.
In September, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut its outlook on the Mumbai-based automaker to “stable” from “positive”, saying Tata Motors would take a hit this year from China’s economic slowdown and higher spending at the British luxury vehicle brand.
Industrywide passenger-vehicle sales in China increased at the fastest pace in seven months in October after the government cut a tax on a few car purchases to boost sagging demand in the world’s largest auto market.
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Ralf Speth, chief executive, called the period “challenging” but said the company was “continuing to execute on our sustainable growth strategy despite headwinds caused by currency fluctuations, an exceptional charge and softening of the Chinese market”.
