Tata Motors Group reports 5% growth in Q3 FY19, JLR down 1.4%

Tata Motors Group has reported its net revenue for Q3 FY19 at Rs 77,001 crore, up 5 percent. Tata Motors alone registered a revenue of Rs 16,208 crore, up 1.5 percent. Revenue from JLR was down 1.4 percent with £6.2 billion (Rs 57,102 crore). JLR continued to face tough market conditions particularly in China but saw encouraging growth in North America and the UK. Tata Motors’ CV sales were impacted due to liquidity stress and changes in the axle load norm.

In the domestic market, M&HCV trucks de-grew 15 percent, ILCV trucks 8 percent, SCV & pick ups 15 percent and CV Passenger -16 percent. PV was up 3 percent, which is attributed to new products continuing to gain strong traction in the market. Inspite of a challenging condition in the domestic PV market, Tata Motors claims that its ‘Turnaround 2.0’ strategy is delivering. Although weak sales in China and de-stocking impacted JLR, it is stepping up with corrective steps to reduce costs, improve cash flows and make the business sustainable and profitable again.

N Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Motors Group, commented, “Tata Motors' domestic business continues the strong momentum and has delivered market share gains as well as profitable growth. The Turnaround 2.0 strategy is delivering well with a continuing portfolio of product launches, which are the requisite building blocks for sustainable growth. In JLR, the market conditions continue to be challenging particularly in China. The company has taken decisive steps to step up competitiveness, reduce the costs and improve the cash flows while continuing to invest in exciting products and leading edge technologies. With these interventions, we are building Tata Motors group to deliver strong results in the medium term.”

Guenter Butschek, CEO and MD, Tata Motors, said, “Fiscal year 2019 so far has been a challenging period for the industry. Despite the muted growth, Tata Motors has delivered strong results, registered an impressive profitable growth this year on the back of exciting products, renewed brand positioning and aggressive cost reduction. Our business performance is well on track - thanks to the turnaround momentum in the Company. We are committed to our core objectives of winning decisively in CVs, sustainably in PVs and proactively in EVs. Our aspirations for the future will only grow to surpass customers’ expectations.”

Jaguar Land Rover continues to invest in electrification and other such technology. After the all new Range Rover Evoque the company is going to reveal Land Rover Defender later this year. Investment in electrification with Electric Drive Units will be produced at the Engine Manufacturing Centre and a new Battery Assembly Centre is said to be established in the UK. As per reports, JLR has realised £500m (Rs 4,605 crore) of cash improvements through the ‘Charge & Accelerate’ programmes in the Quarter and is on track to achieve £2.5 billion (Rs 23,014 crore) of cash and profit improvement by March 2020. A reduction in global workforce by 4,500 is expected to result in a one-time exceptional redundancy cost of around £200 million (Rs 1,841 crore).

Dr Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover chief executive, said, “Jaguar Land Rover reported strong third-quarter sales in the UK and North America, but our overall performance continued to be impacted by challenging market conditions in China. We continue to work closely with Chinese retailers to respond to current market conditions with a ‘Pull’ based approach to vehicle sales. We are taking the right decisions now to prepare the company for the new technologies and strong product offensive for the future. This is a difficult time for the industry, but we remain focused on ensuring sustainable and profitable growth, and making targeted investments, that will secure our business in the future”.