Profits at Jaguar Land Rover have accelerated by nearly 500 per cent in the past year, as demand soars around the world for its latest luxury cars.

In the last three months of 2010 JLR made a pre-tax profit of £275 million.

Twelve months before it made just £59.6 million – but that was its first return to the black after 18 months of credit crunch misery that cost around 2,500 jobs at JLR. Today’s bumper profit figure marks the latest stage in the dramatic turnaround at the West Midlands car maker.

The company now employs more than 12,000 in the region at plants such as Castle Bromwich and Solihull.

“JLR business has reported a fifth straight quarter of growth due to improved sales of popular brands like Jaguar XJ and Freelander and also due to foreign-exchange gains,” said C Ramakrishnan, chief financial officer at JLR’s parent company, Indian-based Tata Motors.

The company has produced a string of increasingly popular new Range Rovers, Freelanders and Jaguars, such as the XF and XJ. It is also starting production on its new “baby Land Rover”, the Evoque, designed with former Posh Spice Victoria Beckham.

At the same time as JLR has gained sales in the UK, the global economic recovery and growing wealth in emerging nations has boosted demand overseas.

In recent months it has seen sales climbing in China, where parent company Tata Motors says it plans to start building both Jaguars and Land Rovers.

The company has also said it plans to invest up to £1 billion a year at Jaguar Land Rover, on capital expenditure and developing new models.

Jaguar sales are expected to grow by more than 10 per cent this year, while Land Rover is predicting record sales of more than 225,000 vehicles in 2012, boosted by the Evoque.

JLR’s figures have given a huge boost to Tata Motors overall third quarter profit figures, which more than tripled to £330 million. Tata is India’s biggest builder of commercial vehicles as well.

By Simon Penfold