Tata Motors making its marque

Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India’s Tata Motors, said retail sales surged 21 per cent year-on-year to 102,644 vehicles during the three months to the end of September, helping pre-tax profits hit £668m.

Demand was boosted by the launch of the new Jaguar F-Type sports car and the new Range Rover Sport, helping drive revenues 40 per cent higher to £4.6bn.

Jaguar Land Rover chief executive Ralf Speth said the luxury marques have reached global consumers in more markets than ever before thanks to its “most engaging product line-up”.

The group is one of the UK’s biggest exporters of manufactured goods, with about 85 per cent of its sales from exports, and saw strong demand from China, Russia, Brazil and the Middle East.

It employs 25,000 UK staff.

Jaguar Land Rover recently announced plans to create another 1,700 jobs at Solihull, to bring the total number of UK manufacturing roles announced by the firm over the last three years to almost 11,000.

Tata bought Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in 2008. Its storming performance helped Tata Motors to a 71 per cent hike in quarterly profits to £350m, offsetting its struggling Indian business, which saw slumping sales of Tata’s own branded cars.

Looser credit, rising consumer confidence, low interest rates and increasing global demand have helped Britain’s car industry recover strongly since the depths of the downturn.

Figures showed car sales accelerated ahead last month.