Jaguar Land Rover quarterly revenue declines but things are looking up

JAGUAR Land Rover has reported a yearon-year 11.6 per cent decline in its global retail sales to 128,615 vehicles for the quarter. Encouragingly, the company had record sales in the UK, up 2.6 per cent year-on-year for the period, while China sales rose in June compared with the prior month with sales of the new Range Rover Evoque helping to partially offset the impact of weaker market conditions on other models.

JLR also reported a pre-tax loss of £395 million, compared to a £264 million loss in the same period a year ago, on quarterly revenues that declined 2.8% year-on-year to £5.07 billion. Additional plant shutdown time and delays in WLTP certification resulting from Brexit contingency planning also contributed to the lower sales and profits.

On a more positive note JLR are simplifying their business, building on their strong foundations and increased operating efficiency to return to profit this fiscal year. Going forward, a two-year programme of new vehicle launches and massive industrial investments should transform the company’s financial fortunes. As well as three entirely new model lines – the new Defender family, the Jaguar J-pace SUV and a new Range Rover crossover (previously referred to as the ‘Road Rover’, which will slot between the Evoque and Velar), JLR engineers are replacing the XJ with an electric supersaloon next year. There will also be an all-electric Range Rover model and an allelectric Discovery model before 2025. JLR has already announced that it is teaming up with BMW to develop next-generation electric drive units (EDUS) for future electrified vehicles, but there are no plans for an all-electric Defender spin-off.

All of these new models will be built on JLR’S brand-new ‘flex’ MLA architecture, which offers mild- and plug-in hybrid drivetrains as well as a pure-electric option. According to Autocar these models will have a new SOTA (software over the air) capability, with 14 ‘modules’ in the vehicle’s electrical architecture that are connected to the internet, which will apparently reduce warranty claims, avoid the need for some recalls, offer predictive servicing and even user-based insurance.