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Jaguar Land Rover posts profitable quarter amidst big yearly losses

Jaguar has posted its first profit in quite some time, as the financial quarter ending on March 31 brought in a net income of $151.6 million. However, that is the light in the end of the tunnel, as full year results through March showed a $4.58 billion loss (GBP3.6 billion). The losses are again attributable to declining sales in China, with a whiff of the still-lingering Brexit process. While JLR's annual U.S. sales were up 8.1 percent, and U.K. sales improved by 8.4%, overall sales came down 5.8% to 578,915 vehicles. For April, Chinese sales nearly halved as they dropped by 46 percent. Earlier this year, JLR's woes caused its owner Tata Motors to post the biggest ever quarterly loss in Indian corporate history, at nearly $4 billion. JLR's CEO Ralf Speth stated that the company is "reducing complexity" and transforming its business by cost savings and cash flow improvements, citing the fourth-quarter profits as an example of the ongoing turnaround. Speth said JLR has already managed to deliver $1.59 billion (GBP1.25 billion) of efficiencies and savings. JLR says its turnaround program, dubbed Charge, will drive it to at least $3.18 billion (GBP2.5 billion) of investment, working capital and profit improvements by March 2020, and that it currently has $4.84 billion (GBP3.8 billion) of cash. Speth continued that JLR will "go forward as a transformed company that's leaner and fitter," and that the sustained investment in new products and technologies will drive future demand. There has been earlier speculation of Tata Motors selling JLR to the PSA Group, but as Autocar reports, Tata's financial chief again refuted these rumors. JLR also announced today that its CFO of 11 years, Ken Gregor is stepping down after 22 years with the company, and that he will be succeeded by JLR's Chief Transformation Officer, Adrian Mardell.

Jaguar gives us our best look yet at the XF Sportbrake wagon

Not quite a month after the first official teaser, Jaguar has provided a much clearer look at the new XF Sportbrake. Instead of the overhead shot, we get to see front and sides almost completely unobscured. Almost. The official reveal isn't until June 14, so the car is still covered in camouflage. Since Jaguar will be the vehicle supplier for Wimbledon, and Andy Murray will reveal the car, Jaguar fitted a tennis-ball vinyl wrap. Despite the vinyl wrap, we can still get a pretty clear look at the car. Unsurprisingly, from the B-pillar forward, the XF Sportbrake is identical to its sedan counterpart. From the rear-door back, the roof is obviously extended, and the rear window's rounded corners lead us to believe the previous model's blacked-out D-Pillar has been ditched. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Jaguar also released a video about driving the XF to a remote Scottish tennis court. We don't particularly care about that, but the video does provide some brief glimpses of the Sportbrake's backside. From the looks of it, the taillights are the same between the sedan and the wagon. The rear bumper and exhaust treatment look very similar, too. As previously mentioned, the Sportbrake will be completely revealed on June 14, and the car will be available later this year – and in the US, as a Jaguar representative confirmed to Autoblog. So if you've been eying an F-Pace, maybe wait just a little longer to try out an XF wagon. Related Video:

Aston and Jag from James Bond Spectre have at it

Daniel Craig hasn't made a bad James Bond film yet. Spectre is his next step into the iconic role that's due to hit theaters on November 6, and it doesn't look likely to ruin his streak. Still, that's a long wait for such an exciting movie. If you're willing to possibly spoil just a little for yourself, a new featurette shows part of one of the big car chases right now. From what we've seen so far, the chase through Rome in Spectre has earned a good amount of screen time. While the reason for it in the plot is a mystery, that doesn't really matter anyway. What's important is that the scene stars Bond in the Aston Martin DB10 and a villain played by Dave Bautista in the now supercharged V8-powered version of the Jaguar C-X75 racing around the Italian capital's tight streets at night. This clip gives a glimpse at some of the work necessary to get the difficult filming completed. We've seen some of that effort before, though, when footage of the preparation for one shot leaked out. Craig reportedly sustained a pretty bad bump on the head during the shooting, and an earlier rumor also suggested that Bond might get behind the wheel of a Fiat 500 at some point in the scene.