Jaguar Land Rover posts hat-trick of global sales records

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover posted record sales for FY2015-16 with 521,571 vehicles sold, up 13% year-on-year (YoY). Of that, Jaguar sold 94,449 vehicles and Land Rover sold 427,122 vehicles. This was the company's strongest performing fiscal year ever. The automaker also reported its best ever March sales, closing off a record month, quarter and financial year.

The global sales in March totalled 75,303 vehicles, up 29% YoY. Building the momentum, the company sold 158,813 vehicles in the first three months of 2016, up 28% YoY.

In FY2015-16, the luxury carmaker's growth was driven by a host of new product launches including volume drivers like Jaguar XE and XF and Land Rover Discovery Sport. The company also ramped up investments to the tune of £3.3 billion (Rs 30,880 crore), of which £1 billion (Rs 13,000 crore) was pledged for its upcoming Slovakian plant apart from the £450 million (Rs 4,210 crore) it will invest to expand its UK engine plant.  

Whilst the UK remains the beating heart of the business (with its workforce more than doubling in five years), Jaguar Land Rover continued to expand its international footprint.

Commenting on the performance, Andy Goss, Jaguar Land Rover Group sales operations director said, "It is encouraging to see both Jaguar and Land Rover - our great British brands - delivering strong sales performances around the world. We have brought out exciting new premium cars and new technologies including our family of Ingenium engines, all-wheel drive for Jaguar and state-of-the-art connectivity. We have broadened the appeal of our cars, making them even more desirable and delivering what our global customers really want."

Positive sales across all markets

Sales for the month of March were up YoY across all regions: 49% in Europe, 43% in China, 33% in North America and 16% in the UK. Other overseas markets were up 17% year-on-year. Four out of five of the key regions achieved record sales in the month. In India, the carmaker sold over 1,000 units in the first three months of 2016, recording a year-on-year growth of 45 percent. This growth, the company says, has come on the back of high demand for sales of its recently launched new models such as new Jaguar XE and Discovery Sport.

Marking its best March yet, Land Rover sold 60,128 vehicles in the month, up 22% YoY. The best-sellers for the month were the Discovery Sport, selling 16,937 units, Range Rover Evoque (15,904 units) and the Range Rover Sport (11,003 units). Land Rover’s sales for the first quarter of 2016 (January to March) reached 128,959 units, up 23% YoY.

Meanwhile, Jaguar recorded its best ever March, delivering 15,175 vehicles, up 62% on the previous year, due to solid sales of the XE (6,521 vehicles) and the all-new XF (5,331 vehicles). Jaguar recorded significant YoY growth across all five of its key regions, with Europe excelling, up 151%. January to March 2016 sales for Jaguar stood at 29,854 units, up 54% YoY.  

Also read: Jaguar Land Rover looks to enter SUV-coupé market