Europe, N America help JLR's sales rise 24% in Oct; Jaguar models see drop

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover has reported a 24 percent rise in its global sales for October 2015, driven mainly by the Land Rover Discovery (up 41.2 percent) and new Range Rover Sport (up 40 percent) models. Sales of the Jaguar brand, however, have majorly reported a downturn apart from the Jaguar XE, which was launched globally in September this year.

For the period from April – October 2015, Jaguar Land Rover’s overall sales saw a slight increase, with the automaker reporting a rise of 2.60 percent as compared to the same period last year. Jaguar’s sales for year-to-date (YTD) of FY16 have seen a rise of 8.20 percent, with the brand delivering 48,221 cars to customers worldwide, compared to the 44,566 units delivered in April-Oct 2015. Meanwhile, Land Rover retail sales for April-October 2015 have not shown the same surge like its sales in October, with the brand selling 218,437 units in April-Oct 2015 as compared to 215,323 units in the same period last year, up 1.45 percent.

New XE drives past rest of the Jaguar models, Discovery and new Range Rover sport drive Land Rover sales

Within a month of its global launch in September, the Jaguar XE has sold a remarkable 15,714 units globally, accounting for more than 30 percent of the total sales of the brand. Despite competing with the likes of Mercedes-Benz C-class, BMW 3-series and Audi A4, it may not be of the mark to quote that the car has played savior to Jaguar as sales of other models fell drastically. The XF sales were down 30 percent in October 2015, while it sold just 18,624 units in April-Oct 2015 compared to the 25,257 cars sold in the same period last year. The XJ was just behind with sales falling almost 25 percent in October 2015, while the car sold 6,666 units in YTD FY16 compared to 9,944 in the same period last year. The company had discontinued the XK model, which was succeeded by the F-Pace, which posted flat sales of 871 units in October 2015, compared to 856 units in October 2014, up 1.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the fortunes of Land Rover models are in stark contrast to Jaguar's. The sales of the Discovery Sport, unveiled globally in September last year, were 7,182 units in October 2015 and 43,203 units in YTD FY16. Land Rover’s Discovery sold 25,828 units in YTD FY16 compared to 24,140 units in the same period last year. The new Range Rover Sport and Range Rover also posted an increase of 5.3 percent and 6.5 percent respectively for YTD FY16. Meanwhile, the Range Rover Evoque saw a drop  of 18.3 percent in October 2015, while its YTD FY16 sales also saw a downturn mark as the brand sold 56,830 units compared to 70,833 units in the same period last year.

Jaguar sales driven by home market, Land Rover sales surge in North America

Jaguar’s home market saw a growth of 63.6 percent in October as the carmaker sold 1,924 units in UK, compared to 1,176 units in the same month last year. The European market particularly drove the brand as Jaguar sales saw an increase of 149.7 percent in October 2015. Further, the YTD FY16 sales in Europe were 10,634 units compared to 5,448 units in the same period last year, up 95.2 percent. Although North America saw a slight drop of 3.66 percent in YTD FY16 sales, the biggest drop was, unsurprisingly, recorded in China as the brand sold 7,151 units compared to 12,993 in YTD FY15, down 45 percent. The primary reason for the massive drop in China sales was the August blast in Tianjin, which reportedly damaged 5,800 vehicles of the carmaker.

Meanwhile, Land Rover was the flavour of the month in North America as the brand sold 7,940 units in October 2015, compared to 4,074 units in the same month last year, up 95 percent. The YTD FY16 sales of Land Rover in North America also posted an increase of 33.08 percent. The demand of Land Rover in the home market saw a decent rise of 33.4 percent in October 2015. Further, the carmaker sold 39,994 units in UK for YTD FY16 as compared to 36,461 units in the same period last year. The Chinese market, expectedly, saw a decline of 24.75 percent in YTD FY16 sales for the Land Rover brand.