(Reuters) -Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) posted a 30% rise in wholesale volumes for the first quarter on Friday, as chip and other supply constraints eased, and forecast free cash flow of over 400 million pounds (about $510 million).
The British luxury car maker, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, said wholesale volumes, excluding those from its China joint venture, rose 30% year-on-year in the April-June quarter.
Its retail sales grew 29% in the quarter. Retail volumes rose 40% in China, JLR’s biggest market, and 42% in North America, but were flat in Europe.
The car maker said there was strong demand for its Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender models, with their retail sales rising 199%, 42% and 90% respectively.
Its total order book stood at 185,000 units at end-June, dropping from 200,000 units at end-March, as chip and other supply constraints continue to ease.
JLR, which expects to report first-quarter results in July, accounts for nearly 60% of Tata Motors’ revenue.
Strong demand for JLR cars and Tata’s commercial trucks has helped the Indian automaker post a profit for the past two quarters. JLR has forecast free cash flow of more than 2 billion pounds for this fiscal year.
JLR’s upbeat forecast sent Tata Motors’ shares up nearly 4% to a record high, before they eased to close up 2.9%. ($1 = 0.7846 pounds)
(Reporting by Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
