JLR opens bookings of Land Rover Defender in India, priced at Rs 69.99L

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Wednesday said it has commenced bookings of the new Land Rover Defender in India.

The model, which comes with300 PS petrol powertrain, is priced from Rs 69.99 lakh (ex-showroom).

The vehicle comes in two distinct body styles --3 door version (90) and 5 door trim (110) as a completely built unit.

"The new Defender embraces its rich lineage in a modern, 21st century package that makes it extremely capable, on and off-road," Jaguar Land Rover India President and Managing Director Rohit Suri said in a statement.

The new Defender will be offered in five different variants across both 90 and 110 trims; Base, S, SE, HSE and First Edition.

The model is customisable with a multitude of seating options, accessory packs and features to choose from, JLR said.

For India, the new Defender will come with various features like 360 degree surround camera, wade sensing, electronic air suspension (standard on 110), smartphone pack, connected navigation, off-road tyres, centre console with refrigerated compartment (optional) and more, it added.

JLR CEO Ralf Speth to retire Sept; remain on Tata Sons board: Tata Motors

Tata Motors on Thursday announced the retirement of Ralf Speth as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) at the end of his contract term in September.

Speth will maintain his relationship with the Tata Motors-owned firm by taking up the role of non-executive vice chairman, N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, Tata Motors and Jaguar Land Rover, said in a regulatory filing.

Speth will also remain on the board of Tata Sons, he added.

"Professor Sir Ralf Speth has decided to retire from his current role as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of JLR at the end of his contract term in September 2020," as per the filing.

"I want to thank Ralf for his passion and commitment over the last 10 years. Ralf developed Jaguar Land Rover from a niche UK centric manufacturer to a respected, technological leading, global premium company," Chandrasekaran said.

"A search committee has been formed which will work with me to identify a suitable successor in the coming months," he said.

"Personally, I am looking forward to new and exciting challenges," Speth said.

The shares of Tata Motors were trading at Rs 189.00 apiece on BSE, up 0.51 per cent from the previous close.

JLR October sales decline 5.5% to 41,866 units compared to year-ago period

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), a part of Tata Motors, on Tuesday reported 5.5 per cent decline in total retail sales at 41,866 units in October as compared with the year-ago period.

Sales of Jaguar brand were at 10,606 units during the month, down 22.9 per cent from October 2018, Tata Motors said in a statement.

Land Rover sales were at 31,260 units, up 2.4 per cent from the same month last year, it added.

"The automotive trading environment remains challenging globally. Against this background, it is all the more encouraging to see our China turnaround strategy and work with the local retailer network generating positive results as sales have improved in China for the fourth consecutive month," JLR Chief Commercial Officer Felix Brautigam said.

JLR witnessed 16.2 per cent rise in sales last month as compared with the year-ago period. It was the company's fourth consecutive month of double-digit sales growth in the region.

The UK sales were, however, down 18.7 per cent during the month, the company said.

Sales were flat in North America, and down 7.9 per cent in Europe, it added.

JLR scouting Chinese partners to ease burden on bottomline: Chandrasekaran

Hit hard by the continuing volume slowdown and mounting losses at its British arm JLR, Tata Motors is looking for partnerships in China to lessen the financial burden on group's bottomline, chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Monday.

Addressing the shareholders at the AGM here, Chandra however, pointed out that the automobile sector is such that a company cannot shut the cash tap as the very of this business demands continuous investment in product and technology development.

Chandra also said, more than the final outcome of the Brexit, it's the continuing uncertainty that is hurting JLR in its home market of England and continental Europe, which is the largest source market for the millions of parts that JLR procures annually.

"The only way to handle the ongoing crisis and the continuing need for large capex is additional investment through partnerships, because we want to spread the investment, which cannot be shut either.

"There are many discussions from tactical to strategic for such partnerships. Opportunities are coming and we keep evaluating them and as long as it is in the interest of Tata Motors. We will forge such partnerships so that we are able to address the capex issue," Chandra told the shareholders.

It can be noted that the woes at JLR, which used to be the group cash-cow for years, the bottomline of Tata Motors has been sinking for the past three successive quarters.

While it made history by booking the largest ever loss by any domestic company for the December 2018 quarter with a mammoth Rs 26,961 crore net loss due to an impairment charges on JLR, last week it reported a net loss of Rs 3,679 crore for the June quarter as against Rs 1,862 crore loss in March 2019.

Stressing on the need to remain continuously invested, he said, like any other auto company, JLR also has to invest in future technologies of hybrid and electric. We also have to invest in the future models and also in areas like shared mobility. That's very important to stay alive in this ecosystem. All this means there is a need for capex if you want to be future ready, he said.

He said JLR has seen its volume plunge around 50 per cent in China, which was its biggest market till the general economic slowdown hit the world's largest auto market since the past two years.

But there are some silverlining in China as "for the first time in 12 months, we are seeing a positive volume growth in China in July after a recovery in June. But we need to wait for a couple of more months to see whether there's a trend."

He said during the past 12-18 months, JLR has cut down capex from around 4.5 billion pounds to 3.9 billion pounds. And we are working towards cutting down further, but we can't take a very drastic cut.

On the Brexit, which has felled two prime ministers- David Cameroon and Theresa May, he said "more than the impact of Brexit, it is the uncertainty of its potential impact, and this is much higher on JLR than any other company.

"The real concern is if Brexit were to happen with or without a deal, what will be the impact on our supply chain. We import millions of components from other parts of the world, particularly Europe. In the situation of Brexit, there's a possibility of a supply chain breakdown which essentially means production cannot happen, inventories are to be maintained.