Jaguar Land Rover has experienced mixed fortunes with its sales performance for the end of 2019
The Midland car maker’s latest global sales figures revealed a buoyant performance for December last year, while sales for the final quarter of 2019 were down.
In December 2019 Jaguar Land Rover sold 52,814 vehicles - a rise of 1.3% compared to December 2018.
The increase was thanks to a sales boost in China, though sales in most other markets were down.
Global sales for October, November and December 2019 were 141,222 - a fall of 2.3% year-on-year.
The rise in sales in China will come as a welcome boost for Jaguar Land Rover and it represented the sixth consecutive month of double-digit growth in a country which at one point became Jaguar Land Rover’s biggest market.
Since then sales have fallen significantly, with the slowdown in the Chinese market cited as one of the company’s biggest challenges - along with declining demand for diesels and uncertainty over Brexit.
December 2019 sales in China rose by 26,3% year-on-year, offsetting lower sales in North America (-1.1%), the 海角视频 (-2.9%), Europe (-5.3%) and in overseas markets (-7.6%).
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Quarterly sales for the last three months of 2019 were up in China (24.3%) and North America (1.1%), but sales were down in the 海角视频 (-11.9%), Europe (-10.1%) and overseas markets (-11.5%).
For the 2019 calendar year, Jaguar Land Rover retail sales were 557,706, down 5.9% compared to 2018.
Land Rover fared better, with Jaguar sales dipping by 11%.
Jaguar Land Rover said this reflected more challenging industry conditions across markets.
In terms of models Jaguar Land Rover said the new Range Rover Evoque continues to perform well (up 33.2%) and the refreshed Land Rover Discovery Sport (up 19.6%). Sales of the Land Rover Discovery were also up.
Looking at the calendar year sales of the Range Rover Evoque, Jaguar E-Pace, Jaguar I-Pace and Range Rover Sport were up.
The company said sales of other vehicles were impacted by the generally weak market conditions and model changeover in the case of the refreshed Discovery Sport.
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Jaguar Land Rover’s chief commercial officer Felix Brautigam said: “2019 was a year of two halves for Jaguar Land Rover.
“Over the last six months we saw a marked improvement in China, where intensive work with our retailers, combined with significant process and product improvements are starting to gain traction.
“Elsewhere, adverse market conditions continued to affect the industry, but encouragingly in North America we closed 2019 successfully with a new record year.
“Following a record 2018, Jaguar sales were down in 2019.
“In increasingly challenging market conditions we chose not to weaken the iconic Jaguar brand through chasing volume at any cost.
“Nonetheless, key product highlights increased interest and, for example, created demand for our award-winning electric I-Pace, World Car of the Year 2019.
“Sales of our first Jaguar compact crossover, the sporty E-Pace, were also up on the previous year and, in December, we unveiled the new Jaguar F-Type to very positive response from the media and market.”
Mr Brautigam added: “For Land Rover, our new Range Rover Evoque continued to draw customer demand and sales of the Range Rover Sport increased in 2019.
“Solid growth for Land Rover overall in the October to December quarter was a promising sign.
“As we enter 2020 our comprehensively updated best-selling Land Rover Discovery Sport is now available in all regions and poised for growth.
“We also look forward to the start of retail sales for the new Defender, the world’s most iconic 4X4.”
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