Nov 14 (Reuters) - Indian carmaker Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles cut its fiscal 2026 margin target for its Jaguar Land Rover unit, as rising costs tied to a production shutdown at the luxury division squeeze profitability.
The results mark the first quarterly earnings since Tata Motors group demerged its passenger vehicle business from its commercial vehicles unit and since its JLR unit was left crippled by a cyber attack during the quarter which forced it to halt production.
The Defender maker now expects operating margins of 0% to 2% in fiscal 2026, down from an earlier goal of 5% to 7%, after already trimming expectations earlier this year amid tariff-related uncertainty.
Adding to the cyberattack, JLR has also faced headwinds from U.S. tariffs, weak demand in China, and the planned phase-out of older models.
Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, which gets a big chunk of its revenue from JLR, reported a 22-fold surge in its net profit for the quarter ended September 30, due to a one-time gain worth 826.16 billion rupees related to demerger of the commercial vehicles unit.
However, excluding the gain, it reported a loss worth 6.37 billion rupees, as overall performance was dragged down by a steep fall in JLR volumes.
JLR's wholesale volumes, excluding China, fell 24.2% during the quarter.
($1 = 87.8950 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Kashish Tandon and Meenakshi Maidas in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee
Source: Reuters