Tata Motors Ltd, the Indian owner of Jaguar Land Rover, is hopeful of turning

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around the unprofitable luxury unit as it cuts costs to battle a slump in sales during the global recession.

"Our main issue would be to sustain ourselves through this and continue to try to do what we’ve been doing the last several months," Chairman Ratan Tata said in Washington late yesterday. "It’s been a very difficult time." He didn't elaborate.

Tata Motors hired KPMG International and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants to reduce costs at the luxury unit, which it bought for USD 2.5 billion last year from Ford Motor Co. Falling sales at Jaguar Land Rover pushed India’s biggest truckmaker to its first consolidated annual loss in at least seven years in the year ended in March.

Jaguar Land Rover had a loss before interest, tax and exceptional items of Rs 873 crore (USD 189 million) in the quarter ended June, according to the latest earnings report from Tata Motors.

The British luxury-car maker said in September it may close one of two factories in England’s West Midlands and add jobs at a third elsewhere as it seeks to return to profit.

JLR received as much as USD 286 million as a five-year working capital facility from General Electric Co's GE Capital division, the lender said. Tata Motors also raised USD 750 million last month by selling securities, enabling it to refinance debt taken to purchase Jaguar Land Rover.