Jaguar Land Rover global sales up 14% in February

Tata Motors Ltd has reported a 14 per cent increase in global sales of its luxury cars Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) at 30,487 units, in February, with China accounting for most of the increase.

JLR sales in China were up 44 per cent while sales in North America rose 12 per cent, Asia Pacific sales rose 16 per cent and European sales rose just 1 per cent.

''This has been another solid month for Jaguar Land Rover with continued strong demand for models across the range in our international markets,'' JLR group sales operations director Andy Goss said.

Together with January sales, this has been a positive start to 2014, he added.

During the first two months of the year, JLR saw a 13 per cent increase in overall sales at 69,593 vehicles, while Jaguar Land Rover global sales up 14 pc in February.

In February, the company sold 5,300 Jaguar vehicles, up 15 per cent, while Land Rover sales rose 13 per cent.

Sales for the first two months of the year in the China Region was up 41 per cent, while sales in North America was up 14 per cent and Asia Pacific sales were up 8 per cent. Sales in the UK and Europe were down slightly and other overseas markets were up 12 per cent.

Calendar year to date, Jaguar sold 12,300 vehicles up 19 per cent with regional performances as follows: the China region up 56 per cent, North America up 34 per cent and Asia Pacific up 5 per cent. UK and Europe sales were lower year on year and other overseas markets were up 9 per cent.

Land Rover sold 57,293 vehicles up 12 per cent so far during the calendar year. Regional performances were as follows: China region up 37 per cent, Asia Pacific and North America both up 9 per cent and Europe up 1 per cent. The UK was down slightly and other overseas markets were up 13 per cent.

Jaguar Land Rover's engineering chief believes that hybrids will be the dominant powertrain for 'upper class' models in the future

JLR has just launched its own Apple and Google-compatible 'In Control' App, which you can download to a smartphone and it appears on the car's TFT screen ''as if it is actually embedded in the car''.

''Hybrid will become the dominant drivetrain among 'upper class' models'' in the future as fuel economy regulations appear in most global markets, Autocar quoted Wolfgang Ziebart as saying.

Those areas include ''advanced driver assistance'', as part of a move towards zero fatalities. Ziebart says that a new WiFi protocol is about to be established, allowing car-to-car communication to become a reality. Also, advancing quickly are new and wider ''fuel-saving technologies'', which could be afforded by the mass-market rather than just by premium manufacturers.