Jaguar Land Rover reports profit

Jaguar Land Rover Automotive increased revenue by eight percent year-on-year but down 0.7% on total retail sales, for the three-month period ending September 30, 2019.

Revenue increase was driven by higher wholesales (up 2.9%) and product mix and while total retail sales were slightly down, performance in China improved by 24.3%.

Jaguar Land Rover’s pre-tax profit of NZ$315.8 million in the quarter, NZ$497.8 million better than this time last year. The improvement reflects on wholesale volume and mix, operating costs, depreciation and amortisation and foreign exchange.

Global retail sales of the new Range Rover Evoque were up 54.6%, Range Rover Sport up 17.5% and Jaguar I-Pace up by 2593 units.

“Jaguar Land Rover has returned to profitability and revenue growth,” chief executive Ralf Speth says.

“This is testament to the fundamental strength of our business, our award-winning products, new technologies and operating efficiencies.”

“We were one of the first companies in our sector to address the challenges facing our industry.”

The company’s Project Charge transformation programme contributed NZ$327.9 million of cost improvement and NZ$576.7 million reduction investment spending in the quarter.

“It is encouraging to see the impact of our Project Charge transformation programme and our improvement initiatives in the China market start to come through in our results,” Speth says.

“Our people have responded very positively to the challenging circumstances over the past year. The improved performance this quarter reflects their ongoing passion and determination. Looking forward, we will continue our product offensive, broadening our range of electrified vehicles on the journey towards our Destination Zero future.”

Jaguar Land Rover wishes to achieve its target of NZ$5 billion by March 2020.