Jaguar Land Rover, the UK subsidiary of Tata Motors, reported a decline of 12.2% in retail sales in May due to ‘lower sales in China, overseas market and Europe’.
It sold 42,370 units in May 2019, down 5,911 units from the same month last year.
This compares to a decline of 13.3% posted in April and a dip of 8.2% reported in March, indicating that the retail sales continue to be affected by weaker consumer sentiments in China and emission regulations.
While the retail sales of JLR were marginally down by 1.5% in North American markets, sales declined significantly in overseas markets and China. JLR reported a decline of 18.4% in the overseas market and a dip of 26.4% in China due to ‘challenging marketing conditions’.
Tata Motors said that the higher retail sales of new Range Rover Evoque and the all-electric I-PACE were offset by lower sales of other models, primarily in China. Sales of the Discovery Sport were lower ahead of the introduction of the refreshed model, which is now on sale following its launch in May.
“May saw two important milestones for Land Rover with the debut of significant model updates. The brand’s best-selling Discovery Sport premium compact SUV has been transformed from the ground up, making it almost a new car”, said Felix Brautigam, Jaguar Land Rover Chief Commercial Officer.
“Although sales dipped at Jaguar this month, we were pleased to see the continued strong response to the award-winning I-PACE. We also launched the Jaguar E-PACE Chequered Flag edition, which generated a high level of interest with customers and commentators alike”, he added.
Of the brands, Jaguar performed better than Land Rover in May, even though both witnessed decline in retail sales from last year.
While retail sales of Jaguar witnessed a decline of 1,365 units, sales of Land Rover dipped by 13.5% or 4,536 units to 29,228 units.
JANUARY-MAY 2019
Jaguar Land Rover retail sales for the calendar year to date (January – May 2019) were 240,471 vehicles, down 9.7% compared to the same period last year.
While the retail sales of Jaguar models were down by 4.9% to 73,900, the retail sales of Land Rover dipped by 11.6% to 1.66 lakh units from January-May.
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, a subsidiary of the Tata Group had acquired the Jaguar Land Rover businesses from the Ford Company in March 2008.