Tata JLR crosses 500,000 vehicles mark

Tata Motors-owned luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) broke the half a million mark for the first time in its history as per its latest vehicle sales results released this week.

The company said in its full-year results for the 2015-16 fiscal year released yesterday that its vehicle retail sales had risen 13 per cent to 521,571.

"Jaguar Land Rover has produced and sold more cars than at any time in our history. We are now the largest automotive manufacturer in the UK and our vehicles have received more than 140 awards across the range for design, technology, safety and environmental sustainability," said JLR CEO Dr Ralf Speth.
 

"During this fiscal year, we have delivered sustainable, profitable growth and introduced new models - such as the Discovery Sport, Jaguar XE and XF - that have redefined their market segments. Furthermore, we are on track to deliver even more sensational products that will underpin the future performance of the business," he noted.

The combination of an increased demand for new models, solid growth in markets including Europe, North America and the UK helped support full-year financial revenues of 22.2 billion pounds, up 342 million pounds on the previous 12-month period, the report said.

"Profit before tax was 1.56 billion pounds after an exceptional charge for the Tianjin Port explosion of 157 million pounds (net of insurance and other expected recoveries to date) with strong free cash flow of 791 million pounds after total investment spending of 3.14 billion pounds.

"Profit before tax was down from 2.6 billion pounds last year, primarily reflecting market conditions during the first half of the year - especially in China, model mix and continued investment," JLR said in a statement.

JLR also unveiled plans to invest in the region of 3.75 billion pounds during the 2016-17 fiscal to support continued, sustainable, profitable growth in the future.

This will include the expansion of global production capacity, new technologies and new vehicles, such as the Jaguar F-PACE and the Range Rover Evoque Convertible that will unleash the potential of both brands in the future.