Jaguar Land Rover back in the black as boss longs for tax cuts
Jaguar Land Rover boss says it would be ‘delightful’ if corporate tax fell to zero – as parent company considers where to build gigafactory
Decision Time: Tata’s Gigafactory to Make Batteries for JLR Vehicles
Jaguar Land Rover’s boss said yesterday it would be ‘wonderful’ if corporate tax fell to zero as the parent company considers where to build a gigafactory.
The automaker’s CEO Adrian Mardell said a decision by Indian group Tata on whether to locate its battery factory in the UK or Spain was almost a “final decision” – as it has taken longer than expected.
Asked about corporate tax – after the UK raised the rate from 19% to 25% despite opposition from many companies – he said: ‘It would be nice if it was zero, wouldn’t it? We would all love that.’
Mardell welcomed the government’s budgetary moves to grant tax breaks to businesses, which he says are “really starting to stimulate investment.”
“Not everything that happens here is bad,” he said. “But increasing the competitive advantage of manufacturing vehicles in the UK is what I’m voting for and of course it would be great to eliminate extra costs including taxes where possible.”
Tata’s gigafactory is set to make batteries for JLR vehicles, but Mardell insisted the site wouldn’t change where the cars are built.
“Our connection and our emotion is in the UK, and from my perspective that will continue regardless of this decision,” he said.
JLR bounced back into the black with a profit of £97m for the year to the end of March, compared to a loss of £455m a year earlier as supply chain restrictions eased. Turnover increased by 25 per cent to £22.8 billion.