(Bloomberg) -- Strong sales of Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc’s luxury SUVs helped the British carmaker’s Indian parent beat profit estimates.

JLR, which makes up more than two-thirds of parent company Tata Motors Ltd.’s revenue, saw pre-tax profit soar 80% to £661 million ($828 million) in the fourth quarter after generating record quarterly revenue of £7.9 billion, it said Friday.

The carmaker has “begun to resolve some big issues, particularly in our home market here in the UK,” Chief Executive Officer Adrian Mardell told reporters on a call.

JLR has been battling to reduce a large order backlog caused by the global chip shortage that emerged during the pandemic and left customers waiting for months on their cars.

The order book was cut to 133,000 by the end of March, with the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender making up the bulk of orders, it said Friday.

On top of the chip crisis, the carmaker has also been grappling with the growing problem of vehicle thefts in the UK, with its luxury SUVs targeted by criminals for their value and keyless technology. The crime wave has seen insurance premiums soar and left some customers unable to get coverage at all, prompting JLR to launch its own insurance product. Earlier this week, it announced it will pay new Range Rover customers £150 a month to go toward their insurance costs.

JLR’s strong results drove Tata Motors to better-than-expected earnings. Net income surged 222% to 174.1 billion rupees ($2.1 billion) in the three months ended March 31. The results were boosted by a 94.8 billion rupee deferred tax gain. Revenue was 1.19 trillion rupees, slightly below estimates.

JLR said it still expects to cut net debt to zero in its fiscal year 2025, despite raising investment spend to £3.5 billion.

Wholesale volumes, excluding the China joint venture Chery Jaguar Land Rover, rose 16% to 110,190 units, it said last month.

China and the US will drive demand for JLR’s cars, while there could be some “stress” in the UK market, Tata Motors Group Chief Financial Officer P.B. Balaji said on media call.

JLR is shifting toward cleaner transport and plans to launch its first electric Range Rover this year. Around 33,000 people have signed up to the waiting list for the electric model since it opened in December, JLR CFO Richard Molyneux said. 

The company is also exploring India’s nascent electric car market. “All options are on table,” Balaji said when asked whether JLR is considering applying for India’s new electric vehicle policy that allows foreign automakers to bring cars into the country at reduced taxes if they invest in a local factory. 

Tata Motors’ vehicle sales in India expanded every month of the quarter, helped by the carmaker’s strong foothold in SUVs, which aspirational consumers increasingly prefer over smaller hatchbacks. 

Read more: India’s Rising SUV Demand Extends to Electric Models: Hyperdrive

The company is planning to separate its passenger vehicle operations — which includes JLR, cars and electric vehicles — from the commercial vehicle business that manufactures trucks and buses. The spinoff will be completed between April and July next year, Balaji said.

--With assistance from Devidutta Tripathy.

(Updates with additional JLR details beginning in first paragraph. A previous version corrected the name of the person who said how many people were on the waiting list.)

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