Tata Motors’ profit in the third quarter remained strong amid the surge in sales of Jaguar Land Rover, its British luxury unit. In a statement, Tata said that net income rose by 41% to a record 34.1 billion rupees ($692 million) compared to the previous year’s 24.2 billion rupees. Its overall sales increased by 45% to 452 billion rupees. Profitability got a boost from high Jaguar and Land Rover sales as the demand in growing markets helped make up for uncertainty in developed economies. In December 2010, the worldwide sales of the luxury unit increased by 45% -- its largest monthly increase since June 2010. Tata Motors said that for the nine months through December, JLR sales rose by 22% to 216,412 vehicles. Hitesh Kuvelkar, an analyst at First Global Research in Mumbai, said that demand will be particularly high for the Range Rover Evoque compact SUV and diesel-powered Jaguar XF models. They would contribute in increasing the volume growth even further at the luxury unit during the upcoming quarters. In a Feb. 8 report, he said that Jaguar and Land Rover are expected to have “decent volume growth."
Jaguar Land Rover helps Tata Motors to report a strong third quarter profit
by Andrew Christian, Email, 20 Feb, 2012
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