Jaguar Land Rover posts best-ever November sales

The Tata Motors-owned premium luxury vehicle manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has reported its best ever November retail sales of 46,547 vehicles, up 27% on November 2014. The company sold 437,512 vehicles in the first 11 months of 2015, 4% up on the same period in the prior year. This number helps the carmaker come within sniffing distance of the half-a-million car mark this year. Will December sales drive it to the mark. 

This will come as welcome news for JLR, which has seen a sharp slide in sales in China. Also, parent Tata Motors was hit by a charge of Rs 2,493 crore due to 5,800 JLR cars getting damaged in the Tianjin Port explosion in August 2015. 

JLR's retail sales for the month of November were up 70% in the UK, 68% up in Europe, 52% up in North America and 8% up year-on-year in other overseas markets. However, retail volumes in China were down 22% for the month, reflecting slowdown in the economy.

Commenting on the performance, Andy Goss, Jaguar Land Rover Group Sales Operations Director, said:  “We started the fourth quarter of 2015 with a record October and have followed this up with another historic month of sales, thanks in large part to the performance of the UK and European markets. Jaguar has delivered a strong performance with solid growth in the UK and Europe thanks to the new XE. Land Rover has again seen record sales this month with continued strong global demand for the new and refreshed model line-up."

Marking its best November yet, Land Rover retailed 38,555 vehicles in the month, up 26% year-on-year. Calendar year-to-date sales reached 361,908 vehicles, 4% up on the prior year.  Best-sellers for the month included the Range Rover Sport, 13% up year-on-year, the Land Rover Discovery, 7% up, and the Range Rover, which was 15% up on the previous year.  The new Discovery Sport continues to grow in popularity, with retails of 9,358 in the month. 

Jaguar delivered 7,992 vehicles in the month, up 33% on November 2014. Calendar year-to-date sales were 75,604, up 1% year-on-year. Europe and UK recorded impressive year-on-year growth of 123% and 66%, respectively, for the month of November and retails in the overseas region were 29% up year-on-year.  Sales of the new Jaguar XE were 3,953 for the month, with a total of 19,669 retailed since sales began in the summer.

Also read: Jaguar Land Rover sales for October