JAGUAR Land Rover (JLR) has made a huge contribution to a massive profits surge at its Indian owner, Tata Motors.

According to trading results published at the Mumbai Stock Exchange yesterday, JLR contributed post-tax profits of £1.04bn in the year to March.

Tata Motors’ JLR unit, which produces Land Rovers at its Halewood factory, was bought from Ford in 2008 for $2.3bn. At the time of the sale, Jaguar was heavily loss making, losing hundreds of millions of pounds a year, but it has turned around its fortunes in the last few quarters.

The result has been driven by higher sales volumes, improvements in margins and efficiency, and favourable exchange rates.

JLR chief executive officer, Dr Ralf Speth, said: “Today’s announcement is a very positive indicator for our business and reflects consumer confidence in our brands and the continued efforts of the entire Jaguar Land Rover workforce.

“This is a solid performance, but we must remain focused on delivering a strong, sustainable business model for the future.

“To that end, we have committed more than £1bn a year over the next five years to the creation of new and exciting products which will strengthen Jaguar Land Rover's position in the global market place.”