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Jaguar Land Rover's retail sales suffered a reverse of more than 13% during its latest financial year as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to bite.

The automotive giant has posted a fall in sales of 13.6% for the 12 months to March 2021, while Jaguar slumped to a 30.5% downturn with Land Rover reporting a 7.1% fall year on year.

Overall, Jaguar Land Rover sold 439,588 cars in the year, 97,669 for Jaguar and 341,919 for Land Rover.

For its fourth quarter, 123,483 vehicles were sold, 12.4% higher than the same quarter last year, with Jaguar posting a 17.1% fall and Land Rover a 22.6% rise.

China sales were up 127% compared to a year ago when that market was heavily impacted by Covid-19.

Sales in North America were also up year-on-year by 10.4%, while other regions remain lower than pre-Covid levels, including Overseas markets (-10.0%), the º£½ÇÊÓƵ (-6.8%) and Europe (-4.9%).

Chief commercial officer Felix Brautigam said: "While the Covid-19 pandemic has an ongoing impact on the global auto industry, I am pleased to end the financial year with sales up year-on-year in the last quarter.

"Encouragingly, the steady recovery throughout the year follows the direction of our Reimagine strategy: the quality of our sales improved even more than the volume, with a focus on our most profitable car lines, higher specifications and lower incentives.