Jaguar races ahead with booming demand from China

Resurgent car maker Jaguar Land Rover is expected to report a 30% rise in sales driven by booming demand from China today.

Reports expect the Midlands-based manufacturer to announce sales of £3 billion for the three months to the end of September as its models are snapped up by the burgeoning middle classes in the Far East.

Profits are set to come in at about £280 million, up from £264 million in the same period the previous year.

Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India's Tata Group last week announced it would create 1,000 jobs at its factory in Solihull near Birmingham to support plans to launch 40 products over the next four years.

And earlier this year, the car maker, which employs some 21,000 workers in the Midlands and Merseyside, said it will build a £355 million engine plant in Wolverhampton that will potentially create thousands of jobs.

JLR has enjoyed a dramatic turnaround in fortunes in recent years boosted by strong demand by emerging markets such as China and Russia.

The company reported pre-tax profits of £1.1 billion in the year to March 31, up from £14.6 million the previous year. Revenues increased 51% to £9.9 billion.

Tata Motors, controlled by billionaire Ratan Tata, bought the company from Ford for £1.5 billion in June 2008.

Meanwhile, sportscar maker McLaren will announce this week that it is creating 300 jobs at its state-of-the-art £50 million sports car factory in Woking, Surrey, on top of the 1,700 already employed at the site, according to the newspaper.

The Formula One group, run by Ron Dennis, will officially open the plant on Thursday.

It currently makes about 1,000 MP4-12C sports cars a year, which sell for about £169,000 each, but it plans to introduce new models.

It is believed its next car might be a 'supercar' to rival the Bugatti Veyron and could sell for more than £400,000.