China buoys Jaguar Land Rover sales
Only soaring sales in China have rescued Jaguar Land Rover from a late summer slump as demand fell in the UK, Europe and its overseas markets.
Its North America sales scraped a two per cent rise in August, but in China sales of Jaguars almost doubled, up 94 percent, boosted by demand for its big XF executive saloons, particularly the long wheelbase XFL made particularly for the chauffer-driven Chinese market.
Thanks to China, the West Midlands-based luxury car maker saw overall global sales rise 4.3 per cen to 36,926. Combined sales of Jaguars and Land Rovers in China was up 29.9% year-on-year in China to 12,096, making it JLR's biggest single market.
The car company, which makes its engines at the i54 factory in Wolverhampton, said sales in the UK in August fell 11.7 per cent, in Europe they were down 9.4 per cent and in its other overseas markets, such as Russia, South America, India and the Middle East, they were down 5.4 per cent.
But it managed to sell 1,400 of its new Range Rover Velars and there was strong demand for the Discovery Sport and the Jaguar F-Pace.
Andy Goss, JLR group sales operations director, said: “A promising performance in North America has led to another month of global growth for Jaguar Land Rover, driven by continuing strong sales of the Jaguar F-Pace and the new Range Rover Velar.”
“China sales were also buoyant in August, thanks to the long wheel base Jaguar XFL and the Jaguar F-PACE, as well as strong sales of the Discovery Sport and Evoque.”