Jaguar Land Rover annual sales cross 6,00,000 vehicles in FY17

Retail sales of Jaguar Land Rover has exceeded 600,000 units for the first time in the company's history in the financial year ended 31 March 2017, Tata Motors informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in a filing.

Annual sales in the 2016-17 financial year increased by 16 per cent year-on-year to a record 604,009 vehicles, boosted by rising sales from the company's China joint venture.

Retail sales for the fourth quarter were up 13 per cent year-on-year at 179,509 vehicles while March sales rose 21 per cent to hit 90,838 units.

Region-wise, retail sales were up 32 per cent in China while sales in North America rose 24 per cent, UK sales rose 16 per cent and sales in Europe were up 13 per cent. However, sales elsewhere were down 6 per cent.

Andy Goss, Jaguar Land Rover Group sales operations director said, ''These numbers set the seal on Jaguar Land Rover's seventh successive year of sales growth, by breaking through the 600,000 barrier. We continue to make encouraging gains in key markets such as China and North America, as well as seeing sustained customer demand for the Jaguar F-PACE, Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport.

''The last 12 months have seen the launch of three completely new product lines, and successful growth across many of our existing products. Jaguar sales are still increasing strongly and Jaguar is now Europe's fastest-growing car brand,'' added Goss.

Retail sales for Jaguar zoomed 83 per cent to a record 172,848 vehicles in the financial year, on the back of rising sales of F-PACE, XE and XF (including the long wheel base XFL from the China joint venture). Sales in the fourth quarter were up 81 per cent at 53,972 vehicles, and were up 83 per cent at 27,820 units in March.

Land Rover sales, on the other hand, were up 1 per cent at 431,161 vehicles this financial year, as strong sales of the Discovery Sport, Evoque and Range Rover Sport were offset by the run-out of Defender and Discovery, the automaker said.

Sales of the all-new Discovery began in February with 4,862 units retailed since its launch. Retail sales for Land Rover for the fourth quarter were 125,537 units, down 2.7 per cent from a year ago, and sales in March were 63,018 vehicles, up 4.8 per cent.

Last month Land Rover launched the Velar, a new addition to the Range Rover family, positioned between Evoque and Range Rover Sport, which will go on sale later this year.