Jaguar owner Tata’s shares hit 19-year high on profit report
Ford asked to boost JLR engine production to cope with high demand

MUMBAI (Bloomberg) — Shares in Tata Motors Ltd., the Indian owner of Jaguar Land Rover, rose to their highest level in more than 19 years after the company posted a first-quarter profit on demand for luxury SUVs and sedans. The carmaker made a net income of 19.9 billion rupees ($430 million) in the three months ended June, compared with a loss of 3.3 billion rupees a year earlier, it said in Mumbai Tuesday. Sales rose 64 percent to 268.8 billion rupees.

Tata Motors gained 5.9 percent in Mumbai after Jaguar Land Rover benefited from a rebound in luxury-vehicle sales that also caused BMW AG and Daimler AG to raise their profit forecasts.

Chairman Ratan Tata, 72, who plans to retire in 2012, intends to open Land Rover factories in India and China on rising demand in emerging markets. Continue reading Jaguar owner Tata’s shares hit 19-year high on profit report

MUMBAI (Bloomberg) — Tata Sons Ltd. is searching for a successor to Chairman Ratan Tata, whose acquisitions of Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley Group Plc charted India’s emergence as a global economic power.

The 72-year-old Ratan, who built the group into India’s biggest with revenue of more than $70 billion, will retire at the end of 2012 after two decades running the Mumbai-based company. A five-member committee will vet candidates for the role, Tata Sons said in an e-mailed statement this week.

The successful candidate will control a group whose 96 companies make cars from the $72,500 Jaguar XJ to the $2,500 Nano, produce steel and grow tea served at the Tata-owned Boston Ritz-Carlton. Tata accounts for almost 7 percent of India’s gross domestic product.

“They should be looking for an international profile, which doesn’t mean necessarily a foreigner,” said Andrea Goldstein, senior economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. Continue reading Jaguar Land Rover parent Tata seeks successor for Ratan Tata

LONDON (Reuters) — Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) may scrap plans to close one of its three British factories after an upswing in sales and the arrival of a new management team, the Sunday Times said.

The newspaper said, citing JLR sources, that a final decision could rest on talks with the government about financial assistance for new models. Continue reading Jaguar Land Rover plant may get reprieve, paper says