New UK sales record for Jaguar Land Rover
VEHICLE manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover achieved record UK sales in March with a new car sold every two minutes.
The company sold 25,127 vehicles last month, up 16% on March 2015.
The company, owned by Tata Motors, also enjoyed a record first quarter with 35,444 vehicles sold, an increase of 23% year-on-year.
The popular Jaguar XE helped give the marque its strongest UK performance in over a decade, with 5,655 cars sold. This represents a 45% increase on the previous March. First quarter sales for Jaguar were up by an impressive 76%.
Land Rover was a little more subdued by comparison although it still sold 19,472 vehicles, up 9% year-on-year.
March is always an important month for the UK car industry because of the introduction of the new registration plate.
Commenting on the performance, Jeremy Hicks, managing director, Jaguar Land Rover UK said: “This has been a fantastic March for Jaguar Land Rover, with very strong performance from both brands, cementing our position as Britain’s largest automotive manufacturer.
“Yet again, our success has been spearheaded by continued customer demand for the all-conquering Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport. In the UK alone, Jaguar sold almost 6,000 vehicles in March and increased sales by 76% in the first quarter, with the XE and the all-new XF appealing to more and more drivers.”
Land Rover’s best-sellers were the Evoque (6,048 vehicles) and the Discovery Sport (5,787 vehicles) followed by the Discovery (2,578 vehicles) and the Range Rover Sport (2,596 vehicles). Q1 UK sales for Land Rover reached 26,756 vehicles, up 13% on the prior year.
Mr Hicks said the remainder of 2016 also promised to be an eventful one for the company with several new models coming on line, including the Range Rover Evoque Convertible and the Jaguar F-PACE.
“For us, a large part of our continued growth will come in fleet and we are already reaching a turning point with a range of affordable and class-leading fuel economy cars appealing to the widest group of customers,” he said.
