Jaguar wind down, US tariffs hit JLR sales in Q1

Tata Motors-owned British luxury carmaker JLR’s wholesale and retail sales fell 10.7% and 15.1% for the first quarter of 2025-26, dragged down by the planned wind down of legacy Jaguar models ahead of the launch of new Jaguar, and a pause in shipments to the US during April 2025 following the introduction of US import tariffs.

Wholesale volumes for the first quarter were 87,286 units (excluding the Chery Jaguar Land Rover China JV), down 10.7% year-on-year and down 21.7% compared to Q4 FY25. “Compared to the prior year, wholesale volumes for the first quarter were up in MENA (20.5%), Overseas (4.6%) and China (1.0%), and down in North America (-12.2%), Europe (-13.6%) and the UK (-25.5%); the UK was most impacted by the planned cessation of the legacy Jaguar models,” the company said in a statement.

Retail sales for the first quarter of 94,420 units (including the Chery Jaguar Land Rover China JV) were down 15.1% year-on-year and down 12.8% compared to Q4 FY25.

Volumes reduced, in line with the company’s expectations, following a challenging quarter.

The overall mix of Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender models was 77.2% of total wholesale volumes in Q1 FY26, up from 66.3% in the prior quarter and 67.8% year-on-year, reflecting the prioritisation of JLR’s most profitable models.

In June, P B Balaji, Group chief financial officer of Tata Motors, said there are no plans to set up a manufacturing unit for JLR in the US. “As far as manufacturing in the US is concerned, there are no such plans at this point. We need to be careful that we don’t over-extend ourselves. We need to ensure that whatever is done is done for the long term and not just as a reactive mechanism for what it is today,” Balaji said. The US accounts for a third of JLR’s total sales, where it exports vehicles from the UK and Europe.

While the US and the UK have announced a trade deal that slashes tariffs on U.K. auto exports to the U.S. from 27.5% to 10%, within a quota of 100,000 vehicles, but that’s still higher than the 2.5% tariffs imposed earlier.

Meanwhile, auto exports from the EU to the US are still under tariffs. “We will have a cost impact. To manage that, we are putting in a programme which will take another 12-18 months to be fully operationalised. That should ensure we get back to the 10% EBIT rate,” said Balaji.

The Tata Motors Group CFO said there are two possible impacts of tariffs in the US. “One is on the demand side, the other is on the cost side. As far as the demand side is concerned, we intend to dial up our market activation. With that, we should be able to mitigate some aspects of the demand stress that could be there and re-route some of the demand from other parts of the world,” said Balaji.