Jag Land Rover has jolly good reasons to celebrate
Jaguar Land Rover has achieved better than expected. Photo: Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar Land Rover has marked the end of 2020 with a second successive quarter-on-quarter recovery in sales, despite the continuing impact of Covid-19.
Retail sales for the quarter ending 31 December 2020 were 128,469 vehicles, 13.1 per cent higher than the 113,569 vehicles sold in the preceding quarter, but down 9.0 per cent on the same period last year.
China sales were encouraging, up 20.2 per cent on the prior quarter and 19.1 per cent year-on-year. Retail sales in most other regions also continued to recover and were up significantly on the prior quarter in North America (+31.7 per cent), Overseas (+26.6 per cent) and Europe (+20.5 per cent).
However, sales in these regions have not yet recovered to pre-Covid levels with sales for the quarter lower than a year ago in North America (-17.2 per cent), Overseas (-20.0%), Europe (-16.3 per cent) and the UK (-8.9 per cent).
Felix Brautigam, Jaguar Land Rover Chief Commercial Officer, said that 2020 was a year of two halves and, although Covid-19 continued to significantly impact the global auto industry, he was delighted to end the year with a second consecutive quarter of sales recovery.
“Our performance in China, the region least impacted by Covid-19 in the most recent quarter, has been particularly encouraging with our sales there growing on both a year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter basis,” said Brautigam.
“At Land Rover, we have been delighted with the reception of the new Defender, which has just been announced as a European Car of the Year finalist. Land Rover’s most capable and durable model ever was also recently named Top Gear’s “Car of the Year” as well as winning the “Unstoppable Force” award.
“With 28 global accolades, we are gratified to see the vehicle recognised as worthy of the Defender name.”
The Land Rover Defender has been a worldwide success for the brand. Photo: Liz Dobson
The sales ramp-up of the new Land Rover Defender saw retails rising to 16,286 vehicles in the October to December quarter, up 66.0 per cent on the preceding quarter with sales of the shorter wheelbase Defender 90 having started.
For Jaguar, retail sales of the multi-award-winning all-electric I-Pace were up 69.3 per cent year-on-year with 7807 sold in the quarter, as demand for electric vehicles continues to grow.
For the calendar year 2020, Jaguar Land Rover retail sales were 425,974, down 23.6 per cent on 2019, reflecting the industry impact of Covid-19 particularly in the first half of the year when plants were shut down for more than two months.
However, the company has since seen sales increase quarter-on-quarter by over 53 per cent in the quarter ended 30 September, followed by the 13.1 per cent increase in the most recent quarter.
With sales of new electrified vehicles including the Land Rover Discovery Sport and the Range Rover Evoque PHEVs ramping up through the October to December quarter, a total of 53 per cent of the company’s retail sales for the three-month period were electrified. This included 6.1 per cent all-electric, 5.5 per cent PHEV and 41.4 per cent MHEV.
This brings the share of electrification to 43.3 per cent of the company’s sales for 2020, with that figure poised for further growth in 2021 and beyond.
The Jaguar i-Pace has a strong following as an electric vehicle globally. Photo: Jaguar
