Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) made record pre-tax profits of £559m in the final three months of 2011 as demand for its premium cars soared in Asia.
The figure represents a sharp growth on the £300m made in the same quarter in 2010, when JLR went on to post a record annual profit of £1.1bn for its financial year to March 31.
The company's revenues soared by 41pc to £3.75bn in the final quarter, with strong growth in China and Russia.
China accounted for 17.2pc of sales, overtaking the UK which made up 16.5pc for the first time in JLR's history.
The figures underline the revival of the premium car company since the financial crisis, when it turned to the Labour Government for financial assistance. JLR's revenues and pre-tax profits are larger than most FTSE 100 (Euronext: VFTSE.NX - news) companies.
In the nine months to December 31, sales increased by 21.9pc to 216,412 cars.
JLR said it has had an "overwhelming response" from customers for the Range Rover Evoque, which was launched last year. The car, nicknamed the Baby Range Rover, has already sold 32,000 units around the world.
Chief executive Ralf Speth told a press conference in India, home of JLR's parent company Tata Motors (BSE: TATAMOTORS.BO - news) , that the US market has "stabilised" but he was more concerned about the outlook for Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD - news) .
Mr Speth confirmed that the company remains in talks with a joint venture partner in China, understood to be Chery, about launching production in the country.
He also revealed that JLR has expanded its revolving credit facility with a consortium of banks from £610m to £710m.
The company said: "This will enable Jaguar Land Rover to have access to such funding as and when required and enable optimisation of cash balances, while strengthening the liquidity position."
JLR is building a new £355m engine plant in Wolverhampton to help meet demand for its cars and is also redeveloping its factory in Solihull. It has hired thousands of new employees over the last 12 months to launch new models and employs around 21,000 people in the UK. It is understood that the company is also exploring plans to double the size of its Halewood plant by developing on surrounding land.
Under Mr Speth and Ratan Tata, JLR is investing more than £1bn a year into research and development. It wants to launch 40 new vehicles in the next five years, including a Jaguar sports car.
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