JLR profits soar as sales keep accelerating
Profits have more than doubled for Jaguar Land Rover over the last three months as the West Midlands luxury car-maker piles of the sales of its 4x4s and luxury saloons.
And the launch of its new F-Type sports car has added to the mix, with high hopes for the US market after recruiting British acting villains Tom Hiddleston, Mark Strong and Sir Ben Kingsley for its high-octane 'Good to be Bad' US Super Bowl advert.
JLR is gearing up for one of the biggest marketing campaigns in its history this year as it puts the finishing touches to its new engine factory on the i54 site, on the border of Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire.
It revealed today that the launch of the F-Type, a new Range Rover and fresh versions of its XF and XJ saloons helped push retail sales for the last three months of 2013 up 26.5 per cent, to 112,172 vehicles.
As a result, revenues were up 40.1 per cent to £5.33 billion and pre-tax profits more than doubled to £842 million, up from £404 million for the same three months in 2012.
Jaguar Land Rover boss Ralf Speth said today: "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."
Over the nine months of its financial year so far, JLR revenues are up 30.8 per cent to £14 billion while pre-tax profits have rocketed by 65 per cent to £1.93 billion, putting the car company on track for another record-breaking year.
JLR's figures also show it is making more profit from its cars; money it is pumping into its huge £2.75bn investment programme around the world, building the engine factory on i54, a car plant in China, another in Brazil and expanding its plant in India to make more models.
It is also keeping Jaguar fans on tenterhooks waiting for its new 'baby' Jag saloon to be unveiled later this year. Expected to be the size of a BMW 3 Series, it will be built from aluminium and be powered by the first engines to come off the production line on the i54.
JLR gave hints as to what it would look like when it unveiled its female-friendly crossover concept car in Frankfurt in September, but it is keeping the real thing under tight wraps.
