JLR expects sales in 2015 to cross half-a-million mark

Jaguar Land Rover expects its sales to cross the half-a-million mark for the first time in the company’s history, the luxury Tata Motors brand said on Sunday as it announced that sales for 2014 grew 9 per cent globally.

The British car manufacturer sold 462,678 vehicles in 2014, driven by sales in East Asia, and particularly across the Land Rover brand.

With 12 new products or updates (including refurbished versions of previously released vehicles) planned next year and the new Jaguar XE and Land Rover Discovery Sport going on sale, the company hopes to sell over half-a-million vehicles this year, Group Sales Operations Director Andy Goss said in a statement.

“2014 has been a year of significant achievements for Jaguar Land Rover…We aim to make 2015 even better, by creating even more exciting cars that deliver great customer experiences.”

East Asia — including China, Japan and South Korea — remained the company’s fastest growing market in 2014, with sales up 28 per cent to 122,010 vehicles.

In South Korea, sales were up 33 per cent, while in Australia they rose 19 per cent. In Europe, the sales rose 3 per cent, and in the US, 2 per cent.

India performance Sales in the rest of the world — including India and Russia — rose 1 per cent to 96,505.

While JLR has not released its sales figures for India for 2014, it sold 2,913 vehicles in calendar 2013.

The pace of global sales growth in 2014 is down from that in 2013, when JLR sales rose 19 per cent, driven by East Asia and the release of the F-Type convertible.

Wooing new buyers The year will be an important one for Jaguar Land Rover, a company that has long insisted that its emphasis is not on entering a volumes race with its competitors, as it positions itself for the first time in the largest and fastest growing segment of the premium car sector with the Jaguar X — a medium-sized executive car — being produced at its Solihull plant near Birmingham.

Positioned at a price point (starting at around £27,000) well below the rest of the Jaguar range — it is expected to open the brand up to new customers.

IHS Global Insight has estimated that sales of the Jaguar XE could reach 60,000 a year at its peak following the initial launch year (a significant number considering that the entire Jaguar brand sold 81,570 vehicles in 2014).

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