Jaguar Land Rover LOSES £524 million in its first quarter – promises increased production

Jaguar Land Rover reports losses in its first quarter to the end of June of £524 million, but promises increased production in Q2.

We’ve reported numerous times on the long waiting lists for a new Land Rover, and the record order book Land Rover is sitting on consists mainly of the new Range Rover, new Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Defender.

The long waiting time and the big order book is down to supply-chain issues – in particular ‘Chips’ – and Covid hangovers and lockdowns in China, all of which add up to a loss for the first quarter of JLR’s financial year to the end of June of £524 million.

It seems the supply-chain and Covid issues were compounded by a slower than expected production ramp up for the new Range Rover and new Range Rover Sport, with around 200,000 customers on the waiting list for a new Land Rover, Range Rover and Jaguar.

JLR boss Thierry Bollore said:

Although headwinds from the global semiconductor supply and Covid lockdowns in China have impacted our business performance this quarter, I am pleased to confirm that we have a completely reinforced organisation set up to respond to the semiconductor crisis. This is now starting to recover production growth to achieve greater volumes and will allow us to take advantage of our record order book in the second quarter.

If Bollore is right, the sale of just 78,825 cars in the first three months should be easily eclipsed in Q2, and a dent made in the order book in the process.