
Why JLR remains elephant in the room for Tata Motors despite domestic momentum
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd’s FY26 earnings showed that the domestic business is firing on all cylinders, but Jaguar Land Rover’s troubles continue to overshadow the gains.The domestic business benefited from the post-GST 2.0 demand recovery, particularly in SUVs, EVs and CNG vehicles. Nexon and Punch continued to see strong traction, while recent launches such as Sierra and the refreshed Punch.ev added momentum.The result: Tata Motors clocked an industry-beating 15% year-on-year (YoY) growth in sales volumes to more than 640,000 units in FY26, making it the second-largest passenger vehicle (PV) player in H2FY26.
EV volumes surged 43% YoY to over 92,000 units, helping the company retain leadership with a mid-40% share of India’s EV market.The problem, however, is that Tata Motors’ domestic PV business contributes only about 17% of consolidated revenue. The lion’s share still comes from JLR, which endured one of its toughest years in recent memory.JLR’s operations were severely disrupted after a cyber incident halted production across facilities, with normalization achieved only in Q4FY26.
FY26 revenue declined 21% YoY to £22.9 billion, while profit before tax collapsed to just £14 million from £2.5 billion a year earlier. Free cash flow turned sharply negative at £2.2 billion, pushing the company from a net cash position in FY25 to net debt of more than ₹30,000 crore on a consolidated basis.The cyberattack was not JLR’s only challenge.
US tariffs, weakening demand in China amid luxury taxes and intense competition, geopolitical shocks that drove up commodity prices, and the winding down of older Jaguar models ahead of new launches all weighed on profitability. That also explains
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