As the global automotive industry accelerates its reshuffle in the wave of electrification and intelligence, Jaguar Land Rover submitted to the market a phased answer to its "Reshaping the Future" strategy with its best financial report data in a decade.
In fiscal year 2025 (April 1, 2024 - March 31, 2025), the British luxury car manufacturer achieved an EBIT margin of 8.5%, free cash flow of 1.5 billion pounds, and a net cash surplus of 278 million pounds. Its core financial indicators all reached their peak in the past decade.
Facing high pressure in the industry and the impact of price wars, Jaguar Land Rover not only maintained its financial resilience worldwide, but also found a clear and sustainable growth path in the Chinese market. It continued to lead the high-end luxury market segment, and the experience of "new modern luxury" continued to deepen. The "Freelander" project opened the 2.0 stage of the joint venture model with Chery.
Focusing on these three directions, Jaguar Land Rover also proposed its corporate mission of "China Resilience" for the first time at this conference. In this regard, Pan Qing, global director of Jaguar Land Rover and CEO and president of Jaguar Land Rover China, said that in the face of increasingly fierce industry competition and market challenges, Jaguar Land Rover's "China Resilience" will become an important strategic support for the company to continue to create value in the context of global uncertainty.
Three firsts in China build corporate resilience
Jaguar Land Rover's resilience in China comes first from the continuous optimization of its product structure. In fiscal year 2025, three high-value models, Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender, contributed nearly 70% of global sales. In the Chinese market, the strategic effect of focusing on the high-end luxury market segment is particularly significant. In the luxury SUV market above 1 million yuan, Range Rover has absolute dominance; Defender leads the market segment of 700,000 to 1 million yuan.
Product quality and safety are the "lifeline" of auto companies. At a time when the battle between "involution" and "anti-involution" is becoming increasingly fierce, the entire industry is at a critical crossroads of transformation and upgrading. Only by maintaining quality can we maintain our brand.
In a number of studies conducted by JDPower, an authoritative market research organization, on domestic luxury brands, Jaguar Land Rover ranked among the top in six key indicators, including after-sales service, sales service, vehicle reliability, new car quality, and product appeal. The Range Rover brand even won first place in the new car quality and product appeal index. Building barriers in the "invisible" areas of quality and user service is a strong support for traditional luxury brands to resist the impact of internal circulation.
Deeply cultivate the new modern luxury experience and build brand resilience
In the Chinese market, long-term investment and intensive cultivation have enabled Jaguar Land Rover to demonstrate unique "resilience". This resilience is not only reflected in maintaining a leading position in the high-end luxury market segment, but also in the accurate insight into the psychology of high-end consumers and the shaping of their values.
Focusing on "new modern luxury", Jaguar Land Rover continues to expand the boundaries of the brand, using immersive platforms such as "Range Rover" as a carrier to integrate brand history, British design, art culture and lifestyle to build an emotional connection with users. In 2024, the platform attracted hundreds of thousands of high-net-worth users to participate, establishing a deep emotional resonance with Chinese users.
This year marks the 55th anniversary of the Range Rover brand. The "Range Rover Territory 2025" has officially kicked off in Shanghai. The 10th Anniversary High-end Edition of the Range Rover SV China, which debuted at the event and is limited to 2 units worldwide, was sold out within a week. The landing price exceeded 4.7 million, making it one of the most expensive Jaguar Land Rover models ever. In the past two years, as many as 800 SV models have been delivered to the Chinese market. Next, the "Range Rover Territory" will gradually land in other major cities in China.
High net worth users favor Range Rover not only because of its excellent product performance, but also because of its profound brand heritage and exclusive customized services. From the British royal family to celebrities from all walks of life around the world, Range Rover is a symbol of their identity and status. In China, business leaders such as Jack Ma and Liu Qiangdong are also Range Rover owners. Their love for Range Rover is due to its unparalleled quality and customized services.
At the same time, Land Rover Defender "Scholars in All Directions" and car owner conferences and other brand experience activities are also constantly strengthening emotional resonance and exclusive experience with customers. The Discovery brand's "Endless Discovery" journey, which has gone through nine seasons, has attracted more than 30,000 car owners and guests to participate.
Relying on the localization of the "brand reshaping" strategy, Jaguar Land Rover is constantly strengthening the appeal of its four major brands and resonance with users to create sustainable value growth.
" Freelander " innovative joint venture 2.0 model forges resilience in localization and electrification development
As a key move in the "Reshaping the Future" strategy, the "Freelander" project marks a disruptive innovation in Jaguar Land Rover's joint venture model in China. The project is jointly promoted by the Chinese and British teams, with the Jaguar Land Rover global design team leading the styling development, and Chery responsible for engineering research and development and production. It breaks the traditional logic of traditional joint ventures and instead forms a two-way empowerment. Jaguar Land Rover exports its brand and design capabilities, and Chery contributes its electrification platform and manufacturing experience.
Pan Qing revealed the latest progress of the project at the investor conference: "The first model will be launched in the second half of 2026. In the future, Freelander will be built into a brand family covering multiple electric models, bringing richer new energy product experience to Chinese and even global consumers."
It is understood that the Jaguar Land Rover design team has traveled back and forth between China and the UK many times in the past year, and has conducted multiple rounds of in-depth exchanges with the local team, achieving a high degree of coordination in design, engineering, supply chain, etc. According to the plan, the Freelander brand will be independent of the four existing product lines, as well as Chery's brands and product series, and will build a new value dimension.
This is the first time that Jaguar Land Rover has authorized its brand to a joint venture, which means the company's strategic trust in the Chinese market and further reshapes the synergy between localization and globalization in its global strategy. The Freelander brand, which is "born global and for the world", is headquartered in Shanghai, China. Its R&D, sales and service networks focus on the world. Relying on the advanced production capacity of Chery Jaguar Land Rover's Changshu plant, it will radiate the global market in the future.
In the context of uncertainty in the global market, Jaguar Land Rover's resilience in China is not only an ability to adapt to the environment, but also a steady strategic choice under the long-termism. From the continued leadership in the high-end luxury market, to the continuous improvement of the new modern luxury user experience, to the new joint venture 2.0 model jointly created with local partners, Jaguar Land Rover is gradually building a growth path in China that combines strategic foresight and execution.
