China sales bolster Jaguar Land Rover but company sees global declines

A FALL in UK sales for Land Rover has been repeated in the latest set of global sales figures released by parent company Jaguar Land Rover.

New registrations for Land Rover dipped almost 20% in November and global sales for the same month show the brand down 14%.

The company has blamed the situation on customers waiting for the run-off of the out-going Land Rover Discovery.

Deflecting attention from the figures, it said sales of the Discovery Sport and the Range Rover Sport had been strong and that sales for the first eleven months of the year were still up 9% on last year.

Despite the dip in Land Rover sales, overall JLR sales were up 2% last month, due largely to the current popularity of Jaguar’s XE, XF and F-Pace crossover.

In fact, the 47,588 vehicles sold meant the company registered its best-ever November in terms of retail sales, which has buoyed the business – especially its Chinese operation, where sales grew 42%.

Reflecting this trend, the company announced last week that it is increasing capacity at its Chinese plant by 50%.

Elsewhere, sales were up 20% in North America but this growth was offset by a 13% decline in Europe, a 6% decline in the UK and a 25% dip in other markets including Russia and Brazil.

For the first eleven months of this year, JLR has sold 527,937 vehicles – 21% up on the same period in the prior year.

Further Chinese growth is in prospect and the expansion of the Chery Jaguar Land Rover plant in Changshu will increase manufacturing capacity by 70,000 vehicles.

Andy Goss, Jaguar Land Rover Group Sales Operations Director, said: “These are solid results underpinned by encouraging performance in China, where our sales are growing healthily in an incredibly competitive environment. Sales in our Land Rover brand have been affected by the run-out of the Land Rover Defender and the current Land Rover Discovery model, but our growing order bank for the New Discovery gives us confidence for 2017.

“Meanwhile, the Jaguar brand continues to show strong growth, especially in the US market where XF and F-PACE have inspired a new generation of customers to try the Jaguar experience.”

Jaguar recorded its best November ever, with retail sales reaching 14,613 vehicles, up 83% compared to November last year. Driven by continuing strong sales of the new XF and the F-Pace, calendar year-to-date sales for Jaguar were 132,381, up 75% year-on-year.

Land Rover recorded November sales of 32,975, as continuing sales of the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Sport were offset by lower volumes of the discontinued Land Rover Defender and outgoing Discovery. Calendar year-to-date sales for Land Rover reached 395,556 vehicles, 9% up on the prior year.

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