The Jaguar Is Finally Agile

The Jaguar Land Rover is shifting gears and fast. The luxury auto major saw record revenue in fiscal 2024 and the Tata Motors owned car maker plans to take this figure higher in the current year. During its investor day, the management guided for £30 billion revenue for fiscal 2025, new launches and most importantly revealed its roadmap to become net debt free.

The company delivered a healthy set of numbers in fiscal 2023, with 20% growth in volumes. The key focus was to continue this recovery post the pandemic. Fiscal 2024 saw momentum continue with 26% growth in volumes, and revenues touching £29 billion.

It also posted its highest ever EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) margins of 8.5%, 610 basis points higher than the previous year's of just 2.4%. This is ahead of the 7% target set back in fiscal 2021. Profit before tax of £2.2 billion is also highest ever since fiscal 2015.

JLR has also been on an investment spree. Despite paying off a record £1.8 billion of debt from its operating cash, it has invested £3.3 billion for product developments and future investments. This is also higher than the initial target of £2.5 billion.

JLR has revealed its aim to become net debt free, as parent Tata Motors Ltd.'s India unit achieved the feat in fiscal 2024. The company's net debt stood at £0.7 billion in the year ended March 31, 2024.

The company will also continue to invest £3.5 billion this fiscal and aims to maintain margins around 8.5%, similar to fiscal 2024 levels. It also sees operating leverage benefits kicking in next year and expects margins to cross 10% by the end of fiscal 2026.

JLR also expects to grow Ebit further, through special products like Range Rover SV and Defender. Current guidance on revenue of £30 billion will set another record for the company.

JLR has been on an investment spree over the past few years and the company’s commentary and targets suggest this is not going to stop anytime soon. The previous cycle of investments of £15 billion has now been increased to £18 billion.

Investment stood at £3.3 billion in fiscal 2024 versus the £2.5-billion target set in financial year 2021. Despite moving towards net cash positive, JLR is expected to further invest £3.5 billion in fiscal 2025.

JLR plans to launch its much-awaited Range Rover EV early next year. It has already secured a waitlist of 38,000 units.

Another much talked about launch will be the New Jaguar. This is significant as the company has guided for fully electrifying all further launches of the Jaguar brand, which accounted for roughly 49,000 vehicles last year.

The brand expects to launch a battery EV on its New Electrified Modular Architecture this fiscal. There will be a total of three products launched on this framework in fiscal 2025. However, it is still unknown which segments these launches will be in.

It will also be a year of refurbishments with newer versions of the Evoque, Discovery Sport and Range Rover Sport SV expected over the next 12-18 months.

One of the newest additions is the Halo line of products. These includes planned product launches across brands of JLR and is priced around £250,000. This is the lowest priced product among the different price ranges it offers.

The Defender OCTA is the next launch in the category, expected in July.

For fiscal 2024, JLR saw 110% growth in revenue while another 45% growth is expected in the next fiscal.

Forex pressure, high debt and poor cash flow management had made the JLR brand a drag on consolidated financials. Therefore, the growth in JLR and India passenger cars and commercial vehicle business is noteworthy.

Parent Tata Motors had guided for market share increasing to 18-20% from 14% currently by fiscal year 2030 in its investor presentation.