Jaguar Land Rover has posted a £3.6billion annual loss in its full year annual report today as a slump in diesel sales hammers the car maker.
Britain’s largest carmaker – owned by Indian firm Tata – slumped from a £400million profit in the previous financial year as it was hit by the economic slowdown in China.
Jaguar Land Rover, which announced 4,500 job cuts earlier this year, generated pre-tax profits of £120million in Q4 ending March 31, 2019.
However, there was no recover from the £3.3billion writedown suffered in the third quarter.
Weakness in the Chinese car market, which was cited as a key reason for job losses, resulted in a 5.8 per cent decline in sales to 578,915 vehicles in the region.
Jaguar Land Rover has posted a £3.6billion annual loss in its full year annual report today as a slump in diesel sales hammers the car maker
Jaguar Land Rover has posted a £3.6billion annual loss in its full year annual report today as a slump in diesel sales hammers the car maker
Another reason behind the downturn is that fewer motorists are purchasing cars with diesel engines – which the majority of JLR products are.
Speaking on Monday, chief executive Dr Ralf Speth said: ‘Jaguar Land Rover has been one of the first companies in its sector to address the multiple headwinds simultaneously sweeping the automotive industry.
‘We are focused on the future as we overcome the structural and cyclical issues that impacted our results in the past financial year.
‘We will go forward as a transformed company that is leaner and fitter, building on the sustained investment of recent years in new products and the autonomous, connected, electric and shared technologies that will drive future demand.
Weakness in the Chinese car market, which was cited as a key reason for job losses earlier this year, resulted in a 5.8 per cent decline in sales to 578,915 vehicles in the region
Weakness in the Chinese car market, which was cited as a key reason for job losses earlier this year, resulted in a 5.8 per cent decline in sales to 578,915 vehicles in the region
However, the firm was positive about unit sales in the UK and in north America, which jumped 8.4 per cent and 8.1 per cent respectively during the year.
Full-year revenues fell 5.6 per cent to £7.1billion, as growth in the US and UK was offset by ‘weaker Chinese market conditions’.
The company launched a £2.5billion turnaround programme earlier this year and has spent more than £149million on redundancy costs to date.
The turnaround programme has already delivered £1.25billion in cost savings and efficiencies, JLR said.
Deepening losses come after it was reporter earlier this month that PSA – the owner of Peugeot, Citroen and Vauxhall – was eyeing up a deal to acquire the luxury car manufacturer.
