Jaguar Make Record Profit; Yah Boo Sucks to All You Nay Sayers!

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) have come under incessant attack since the release of the most recent promotional material that features a cast of somewhat hermaphrodite cast.

We at Automology were as guilty as the rest of the scribbling cast. But they have just announced a staggering USD9.4 BILLION revenue for just the last quarter of 2024, that is just three months’ worth of sales.

Just to be clear, the sales were almost all for Land Rovers, you know those beasts labelled as Range Rover and Defender (the new sexy one’s that this writer would kill for) and the venerable Discovery, yes, they still make them. 

On top of this the company announced the largest earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA, sorry to bore you with accountancy stuff).

So, time for a celebration right, bring out the steamers and champagne, certainly could be. This is the ninth straight quarterly profit for the group and also the highest EBITDA in the past ten years.  Wholesale volumes were also up by 3% for the period over the previous period amounting to 104,427 units across the various shapes and sizes.

Some 70% of the sales came from the Range Rover Sport and the Defender models regardless of all the negative press on how easy they are to steal and thus attract bigger insurance premiums, or how unreliable and expensive they are to maintain.

The profitability was also up by 7% to about USD2 billion despite some mumbling about some exceptional items and a weak pound hitting the bottom line (accountancy speak for profit) so perhaps they can afford to sponsor some dancing girls along with the champagne.

There are still big challenges in the market place with the incessant march of the heavily subsidized Chinese Electric Cars stealing market share from the legacy manufacturers but JLR seem to have a plan. 

With the new Type 00, recently launched in Miami, and the Range Rover EV range due later this year JLR will continue to pursue high-net-worth customers to fill their order books. Wished I was one.