Jaguar Land Rover profits fall by a fifth as it spend big on new technology

Bosses say the fall in profits is down to the huge amount the company is investing in long-term growth, self-driving technology and electric-powered vehicles.

The West Midlands-based luxury carmaker, which makes diesel and petrol engines at its £1bn plant on the i54 site in Wolverhampton, saw profits fall to £192 million in the third quarter of its financial year.

It compares to the £255m it made in the three months to 31 December 2016, which in turn was down from £499m for the same period the year before that.

At the same time, sales in the last three months of 2017 were up 3.5 per cent, with 154,447 cars driven off garage forecourts around the world. That pushed JLR’s revenue figure up by 4.3 per cent to 6.3 billion.

Chief executive Ralf Speth said the company had faced “headwinds and uncertainty” in some markets. This includes the UK, where sales of diesel vehicles have slumped in recent months.

Sales also fell in the US and Europe over the three months, but were buoyed up by strong growth in China and JLR's overseas markets such as Russia, India, the Middle East and South America.

Mr Speth said he was “cautiously optimistic” that new vehicles like the Jaguar E-Pace and electric I-Pace would boost figures in the last quarter of JLR’s financial year, to the end of March.

He said: “We have delivered creditable financial results in a challenging period, during which Jaguar Land Rover has continued to over-proportionally invest in long-term growth and autonomous, connected and electric technologies.

“Despite headwinds and uncertainty in some markets, Jaguar Land Rover still delivered increased unit sales as we continued the launch schedule for new models including the significantly enhanced Range Rover family and all-new Jaguar E-Pace.”

“This year is a milestone for Jaguar Land Rover as we prepare to launch our first ever electric car, the Jaguar I-Pace, and Range Rover plug-in hybrids.

“We continue to remain focused on delivering sustainable and profitable growth, and remain cautiously optimistic on achieving seasonally stronger fourth quarter results driven by new models.”

The company said it was currently pumping record levels of investment into its business around the world, with new models, new automotive technology, production and research & development facilities.

It has doubled the size of its Wolverhampton engine plant, to 2 million sq ft, and is planning a major technology centre near its headquarters at Whitley, near Coventry.