Jaguar Land Rover swung to a loss of 302 million pounds ($413 million) in the quarter ending Sept. 30 as chip supply constraints prevented the automaker from fulfilling customer orders.
JLR recorded a profit of 65 million pounds in the same period last year.
CFO Adrian Mardell told investors Monday that the company had unfulfilled demand of 160,000 vehicles. “That’s probably the highest number in history of the company,” he said.
JLR has 128,000 vehicles on its order books, Mardell said. At the same time, dealer inventories are down to 20,000 and those held by the company are at 27,000.
“It’s the lowest level of dealer inventories we’ve had, going back a long time in the history books,” he added.
JLR’s losses are in contrast to other premium brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Audi, which have profited from supply constraints by raising prices, reducing marketing costs and focusing on higher-margin models.
Mardell said JLR’s profit in the same quarter last year was an outlier due to China’s swift return to normality after the pandemic.
“Q2 last year was a really rich mix,” he said, referring to the June 30-Sept. 30 period, which is counted as the second quarter for JLR’s India-based parent company Tata Motors.
Mardell told investors on the revenue call that JLR’s gross revenue per vehicle was 61,000 pounds for the quarter, lower than the same period last year, without giving the higher figure. “Above 61,000 is a really rich mix,” he said.
The automaker posted a loss of 110 million pounds in the March to June quarter.
JLR said it has targeted higher-margin vehicles such as the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport as it prioritized cars for production but lacked the chips to build enough. “Supply issues have impacted our most valuable units,” Mardell said.
