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Miami Herald
02-06-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Jaguar's Europe Sales Stall As Shift To Electric-Only Lineup Begins
For a brand with the prestige of Jaguar, its new vehicle registrations in Europe for April 2025 make for truly painful reading. Just 49 - yes, forty-nine - new Jaguars were registered across the pond throughout April, representing a decline of 97.5%; a year ago, 1,961 Jaguar models were registered in the same month in Europe, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association. These sales include those from Jaguar's home market, the UK. Without the benefit of context, it appears to be one of the most unfathomable declines from a major brand in recent automotive history. However, this drastic drop in sales in a key region doesn't necessarily spell the end for Jaguar. This is the general state of mind at Jaguar as it embarks on a path to release a fully electric lineup of vehicles, while also pushing deeper into the ultra-luxury segment. Jaguar has elected not to gently transition into an all-EV lineup. Instead, the vast majority of Jag's gas-fed models have been discontinued, including the XF sedan (which ceased production midway through 2024). At around the same time, the XE sedan and F-Type sports car were discontinued. Without cars to sell, it figures that sales will fall off a cliff. Adrian Mardell, Jaguar CEO, previously stated that the brand's range of current models resulted in "close to zero profitability," according to Automotive News. This explains why culling nearly the whole lineup wasn't as drastic as it seems. By accepting this dramatic decline in sales, Jaguar can fully focus on its next chapter, and what a chapter it looks to be. Jaguar was almost universally panned when it revealed its new brand identity late last year. Everything - from the font to the logo, colors, and themes - were derided, and all bore little resemblance to the brand's consistent look and feel up to that point. The initial rebrand had virtually no focus on cars, further alienating Jag loyalists, and phrases like "copy nothing" and "create exuberant" failed to strike a chord with gearheads in any meaningful way. Jaguar isn't oblivious to the backlash. According to a report by the The Telegraph last month, the British automaker is already hunting for a new advertising agency to replace Accenture Song. The latter is responsible for last year's campaign, but Jaguar seems to want to replace the agency sooner rather than later, despite a contract being in place until mid-2026. This was followed by the reveal of the Type 00 concept car, a first look at what we can expect from Jaguar's EV future. With flush surfaces and dramatic touches like a glassless rear tailgate, it looks nothing like any other Jaguar we've seen. Jaguar's first production car under the rebrand will be an electric four-door GT, set to be revealed in late 2025 before reaching showrooms next year. Targeting the likes of Bentley and Rolls-Royce with an imposing design and deluxe interior, it remains to be seen how far upmarket the Jaguar brand can go, and this will be the model to answer that question. While Jaguar alone undergoes an expected lull as part of its transformation, Jaguar Land Rover has posted £2.5 billion (around $3.39 billion) in profits for FY25, a record result. These promising numbers have, of course, been spearheaded by Land Rover, a brand that has a reliably consistent lineup at present. The stability of the Land Rover brand allows JLR to take its time with the Jaguar relaunch, even if that means selling shockingly few vehicles in the interim. All things considered, Jaguar's dismal European sales in April 2025 aren't as unnerving as they initially appear. Without cars to sell, sales will plummet, and Jaguar seems to have anticipated this. The brand has gone too far in a new direction to turn back now, and is betting on an exclusively EV future at a time when many automakers have reined in their plans to move to a fully electric lineup. The arrival of Jag's grand production EV in 2026 will confirm whether or not the gamble has paid off. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
JK Tyre Q4 net profit skids 42.7% to ₹97 crore
JK Tyre & Industries reported a 42.7 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter of the last financial year (FY25) to ₹97 crore, as compared to ₹169.3 crore in the year-ago period. Its consolidated EBITDA for the quarter stood at ₹384 crore, marking a 15 per cent increase over the previous quarter. Profit before tax (PBT) rose 79 per cent quarter-on-quarter to ₹144 crore. The company attributed the improvement to increased volumes and operational efficiencies, despite persistent raw material cost pressures. For the full financial year (FY25), the tyre maker reported a 37 per cent fall in its net profit to ₹495.04 crore from ₹ 786.23 crore in FY24. JK Tyre 's subsidiaries— Cavendish Industries Ltd. (CIL) and JK Tornel , Mexico—continued to contribute to consolidated revenues and profitability, in line with the group's international expansion strategy. Outlook and sustainability focus The company reported growth in demand for premium products, including Levitas Ultra, Smart Tyre, Ranger Series, and Puncture Guard tyres in the passenger vehicle segment, as well as the XF, XM, and XD series in the commercial vehicle segment. Dr Singhania noted, 'JK Tyre has displayed exceptional resilience and strategic clarity through FY2025. We are entering FY2026 with renewed confidence, backed by a robust demand outlook across all segments. The Government's accelerated focus on infrastructure, a strong pipeline of new vehicle launches, potential easing of interest rates, and an expected normal monsoon position us well for sustained growth.' Separately, JK Tyre announced that it has received ISO 20400 certification from the British Standards Institution (BSI) for its sustainable procurement practices in the raw material supply chain.
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Why Did Ford Sell Jaguar And Land Rover? It's Complicated
By the late 1990s, Ford Motor Company had grown to include a number of other brands the automaker had purchased over the years. In addition to longtime Ford stablemates Lincoln and Mercury, the Blue Oval owned Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin. Those premium brands were placed under a single umbrella called the Premier Automotive Group in 1999, but by the end of 2010 nearly every one of those brands had been sold off. Jaguar and Land Rover were some of the last marques to be sold, the result of the brand needing some quick cash and a refocusing of its efforts. Premier Automotive Group was the brainchild of Ford CEO Jacques Nasser, and it was an endeavor that eventually cost the company billions. Beyond just having the brands all under a single banner, the goal of PAG was to have each company collaborate and play off each other. It's how we wound up with things like the DEW 98 platform that underpinned the Ford Thunderbird, Lincoln LS and Jaguar's S-Type and XF; Aston Martin using Volvo keys; and Lincolns using Jaguar V8s. It was a complicated mess, one that Ford was nearly done with by the late 2000s when Nasser was forced into retirement. In addition to PAG, Nasser had apparently shaken things up too much at Ford. Following Nasser's exit, Henry Ford's great-grandson, William Clay Ford Jr., was appointed the company's new CEO. Bill Ford was largely hands off with PAG; his goal was to restore the automaker's North American operations to profitability. While Ford focused on that, he appointed Mark Fields to the position of executive vice president. Fields oversaw Ford's European operations as well as PAG, where the group actually made a profit of $17 million in 2005 after losing $349 million the year prior. Things changed quickly for PAG. By the time Alan Mulally took over as CEO of Ford in 2006, Premier Automotive Group had largely been losing money for years, and Mulally wanted out so that more time and money could be spent on Ford and its core brands, so he began selling off the Premier Automotive Group's automakers one by one. It started with Aston Martin in 2007, when an investment consortium led by Prodrive chairman David Richards purchased the luxury marque from Ford for $925 million. A year later, Jaguar and Land Rover were on the chopping block. India's Tata stepped up to the plate and took both brands off Ford's hands for $1.7 billion, far less than what Ford had paid for them. Ford had purchased Jaguar 19 years prior for $2.5 billion, and it bought Land Rover from BMW in 2000 for $2.7 billion. Ford's reasoning for the sale was a plan called One Ford, spearheaded by Mulally. Under the plan, Ford was to get all of its global operations on the same page so it could serve all customers equally, no matter the market. While this plan helped the company withstand the Great Recession, the other side of the sale was the grim reality Ford was facing at the time. Ford's crosstown rivals, General Motors and Chrysler, both took bailout funds. Ford never received a bailout thanks to the One Ford plan, and largely because the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover came at just the right time. While the sale allowed Ford to focus, it wasn't enough to fully bolster the company's bottom line, and some industry experts say that Ford's sale of the brands at a loss proves it was a mistake to have purchased them in the first place. From NBC: 'Selling the companies at such a loss clearly shows buying them was a mistake for Ford, said Erich Merkle, vice president of auto industry forecasting for the consulting company IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids. Jaguar never has made a profit under Ford, Merkle said. 'How can you call it anything else?' he asked. 'You have to cut your losses at some point. It's been draining them of cash and resources.' Jaguar and Land Rover's fortunes changed for the better under Tata's ownership. By 2010, a surge in demand for luxury cars helped the two brands deliver four consecutive quarters of profit for Tata. By 2015, Jaguar Land Rover had made $3.1 billion on its own. Volvo was the last one to go. Chinese automaker Geely purchased the Scandinavian brand for $1.8 billion in August 2010, two months after Ford shut down (rather than sold) its Mercury division. It's doubtful the Ford of today would try this sort of empire building again, and if it did, it would probably put the company's survival in jeopardy. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
