How JLR turned from the worst mistake to a money maker for Tata?

Tata bought the British car maker for USD 2.3 billion on June 2, 2008, at the beginning of the recession. The world thought of it as a colossal mistake at the time. The acquisition brought a ₹21,000 crore debt to Tata Motors, and for the first time in seven years, the company posted a loss of ₹2,500 crores.

And, now, in the second quarter of the current financial year, JLR recorded two-thirds of Tata Motors’ total profit. So, what changed?

JLR’s focus on profitable vehicles like the Defender, Range Rover, and Range Rover Sports clocked 77% of the order book and 64% of total car sales this year. It plans to take its global market share from 12% to 17% by FY 2026. They will eventually wholly exit the low profitability segments like the Jaguar sedan and relaunch them as fully electric sports vehicles starting from £100,000 with a range of 700 kilometres.