Jaguar Land Rover profits surged by over 100% from £404 million ($662m) to £842 million ($1,380m) in the fourth quarter of 2013 on revenues of £5.328 billion, the company announced today.
Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is based in Coventry, England, and has been a subsidiary of the Indian car maker Tata Motors since 2008.
Parent company, Tata Motors’ profits surged to 48 billion rupees ($768 million, £468 million). The company bought Jaguar Land Rover in 2008 for £1.15bn ($2.3bn) and has invested considerably in R&D (research and development) and new models.
In Q4 2013, sales increased by 27% compared to Q4 2012, to 112,172 units. The Range Rover Sport and Jaguar XJ and XF did particularly well.
Regarding the fourth quarter results, Jaguar Land Rover Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ralf Speth said:
“Our financial performance for this and the preceding quarters is a testament to the quality of Jaguar Land Rover’s award winning product offerings which continue to meet the exacting standards demanded by our customers around the world.”
Strong emerging markets sales
Jaguar Land rover sold 425,006 vehicles in 2013 in the whole year, with exceptionally strong sales in India, China, Brazil and the United States.
Tata Motor’s Indian revenue was boosted by the selling of its stake in its South Korean subsidiary to its subsidiary in Singapore.
Tata Motor saw Q4 2013 profits surge by 195% compared to the same quarter in 2012. Media in India say this is despite a “struggling home (India) market.”
Sales in India poor
Surging interest rates and higher fuel costs have inhibited care sales in India. Not only have the sales of Tata’s cars suffered domestically, but also the sales of buses and trucks. Except for the June 2013 quarter, Tata’s domestic unit has had successive quarterly losses since Q3 2013.
Santanu Choudhuri wrote in Wall Street Journal that domestic sales in India in the personal car and SUV (sports-utility vehicle) markets because of cut-throat competition and a lack of new products. He added that “High ownership costs and fear of job losses in the Indian economy, which is growing at its slowest pace in several years, has also been hurting demand.”
The sale of Tata-branded vehicles declined by 36% to 131,087 units.