Land Rover Suffers in 2009

Land Rover is a British marque that is known around the world for its rugged, all-terrain vehicles. Land Rover was started in 1948 as a division of the Rover Group, and has been owned over the last few decades by British Leyland, British Aerospace, BMW, and Ford in addition to the Rover Group. The brand is currently owned by the Tata Group of India, with production of Land Rover vehicles concentrated in Solihull, England. Land Rover has been a part of the Tata Group since 2008, when Land Rover was sold by Ford to the Tata Group. Under Tata's stewardship, Land Rover, along with fellow British brand Jaguar, has begun to show signs of improvement in both sales and profits. Tata has frozen wages of current staff, and cut pay for new staff by 20%. Quarterly sales have begun to increase, helped by new models like the upgraded Land Rover, the Range Rover Sport, and the Discovery 4. Sales for the 3rd quarther of 2009 have increased from 35,000 to 44,300, an increase of 23%. Sales were lead by sharp increases in sales in Britain and China.
Tata Group reported an operating profit of 41.3 million pounds in the third quarter of 2009; the operating profit has swung from a loss of 34 million pounds in the third quarter of 2008. The Tata Group is continuing to focus on costs; Land Rover has scaled back the use of contractors and will close one of its factories in the West Midlands area of England to cut costs. Tata has secured a loan from the State Bank of India totalling 175 million pounds, and is optimistic that the cost-cutting measures instituted under the stewardship of the Tata Group will continue to improve profitability at Land Rover.

Ronnie is a freelance technical writer for Land Rover Engines. He writes different niches including Land Rover engines, Land Rover transmissions and other industry specific topics.