Jaguar Land Rover, the UK subsidiary of Tata Motors, reported a decline of 13.3% in retail sales in April due to ‘lower sales in China, overseas markets and Europe’.
It sold 39,185 units in April 2019, down 5,995 units from the same month last year.
This compares to a decline of 8.2% posted in March and a dip of 4.1% in February, indicating that retail sales continue to be affected by weaker consumer sentiments in China and emission regulations.
However, JLR’s retail sales were up by 12% in the UK and by 9.6% in the North American markets.
“Although this was a tough month for us due to continuing pressures in China, we saw good growth in the UK and the US. Once again, we strongly outperformed the UK market and in the US, JLR posted its best ever April sales”, said Felix Brautigam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jaguar Land Rover.
Of the brands, Jaguar performed better than Land Rover in April, even though both witnessed a decline in retail sales from last year.
While retail sales of Jaguar witnessed decline of 1,827 units, sales of Land Rover dipped by 13.1%, or 4,168 units, to 27,723.
JLR’s performance has been affected for a long time due to uncertainties around new emission standards for diesel vehicles in the UK and European Union.
They were also impacted by the uncertainty around Britain’s exit from the European Union, the terms of which are yet to be clear.
Ratings agencies such as CARE and S&P had cut the ratings of Tata Motors due to poor financial performance of JLR.
Tata Motors, subsidiary of the Tata Group had acquired the Jaguar Land Rover businesses from the Ford Company in March 2008.