Record June sales announced by JLR but China slowdown is a concern
JAGUAR Land Rover (JLR) sold more than 200,000 vehicles in the first half of the year.
And the West Midlands firm revealed record June sales of around 39,000 vehicles -19,000 in the UK and Europe and 20,000 for the rest of the world.
But sales have dropped off markedly in China, one of the firm’s key export markets.
Global sales in the first six months of the year were 239,212 vehicles.
Figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) yesterday revealed that the sector has enjoyed its best half year output since 2008.
Car manufacturing increased by 5.4% in June to 143,759 units, with strong export performance.
That mirrors the story at JLR but the company will be concerned that it has suffered a shrap decline in its figures for China where it opened a new car plant in November.
Sales in China have fallen by 27% for the year so far, largely because the country’s economic growth has slowed down but also as a result of production ramping up for the locally produced Range Rover Evoque.
Elsewhere, performance year-to-date shows 18% growth in the UK, 16% in Europe and 15% in North America.
Andy Goss, Jaguar Land Rover group sales operations director, said: “Jaguar Land Rover has delivered solid growth in June. I am delighted to see our vehicles performing well, especially in the UK and Europe where sales reached almost 19,000 vehicles this month – a record June for two of our key regions.
“Our investment in new products and technologies continues to give us a very strong and desirable range of vehicles, such as the all-new Discovery Sport and the Jaguar XE. Customer deliveries of the XE began at the start of June and it has had an impressive first month of sales.”
Land Rover delivered a solid performance in the month, selling 32,447 vehicles, up 1%.
Calendar year-to-date sales reached 201,713 vehicles, up 3% year-on-year on the back of continued strong customer demand particularly for the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.
