Tata Motors has loss as Jaguar, Land Rover sales fall

Tata Motors Ltd., the Indian truckmaker that owns Jaguar and Land Rover, posted its first annual loss in at least seven years after sales at the luxury units plunged amid the global recession.

The consolidated net loss was 25 billion rupees ($520 million) in the year ended March 31, compared with a net income of 22 billion rupees a year ago, the company said in a statement in Mumbai today. Year-ago numbers don’t include Jaguar and Land Rover, which Tata bought from Ford Motor Co. in June last year.

The Jaguar Land Rover unit had a pretax loss of 18 billion rupees as unemployment and the global financial meltdown damped sales in the U.S. and Europe. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world’s biggest maker of luxury vehicles, and Daimler AG, both posted losses in each of the past two quarters as the worst recession since World War II pushed the auto industry into its deepest crisis in decades.

“Turning around Jaguar Land Rover is a Herculean task,” said Vikas Sehgal, a Chicago-based partner at Booz & Co., an industry consultant. “It’s challenging because a company focused on the mass market with basic technologies is trying to turn around a premium marquee brand with complicated technologies and low volumes.”

Full-year standalone profit fell 51 percent to 10.01 billion rupees from a year ago, the company said May 29.

Tata Motors shares, which have more than doubled this year, rose 0.9 percent to 340.25 rupees in Mumbai today. Earnings were announced after trading ended.

About 120,000 Land Rovers were sold in the 10 months ended March 31, down from 198,000 a year ago, Chief Financial Officer C. Ramakrishnan told reporters today. Jaguar sales fell to 47,000 in the same period from 48,800.