In today's Financial Times

Jaguar Land Rover expects the chip shortages that have crippled the automotive industry to “gradually improve” this year after production shortfalls pushed the carmaker to a quarterly loss.

The group posted a £9m pre-tax loss between September and December. This compares to a £439m profit in the same period a year earlier, but is an improvement on the £302m loss it recorded between June and August.

Revenues rose from £3.9bn to £4.7bn in the quarter, though are below the £6bn posted in the same quarter a year earlier. The company now expects to break even in its financial year to the end of March.

Like most other carmakers, JLR was hurt by the global chip shortage that hit production and sales during the pandemic.

While most car companies have since seen order books swell to record levels because of supply constraints, JLR said its orders were also boosted by the new Range Rover, its flagship model. Car production was 41 per cent higher last quarter than in the preceding three months, the company said.

In the first three quarters of its financial year, the company has lost £421m, compared with a slim profit of £91m in the same period the previous year.

“The semiconductor shortage is expected to continue through 2022 but is expected to gradually improve as capacity within the supply base increases,” it said on Monday.

During the quarter JLR also raised a £625m loan that is 80 per cent backed by the government’s export finance arm, it said.

Adrian Mardell, JLR’s finance chief, said the loan “will help support the significant investment in our transition to offer a fully electrified product portfolio and to achieve our target of net zero carbon emissions by 2039.”

While JLR was one of the carmakers that signed the COP26 pledge last year to eliminate emitting vehicles by 2040, it has been slower than rivals in the premium market to roll out new battery-only models.

The number of pure electric cars it sold last quarter fell from 6 to 3 per cent of its mix, though once hybrid cars that can be plugged in were included, it rose from 12 to 13 per cent.

“Whilst semiconductor supplies have continued to constrain sales this quarter, we continue to see very strong demand for our products underlining the desirability of our vehicles,” said chief executive Thierry Bolloré. “The global order book is at record levels.” 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE