News : JLR posts best-yet November sales

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Jaguar Land Rover has scored its best-yet November retail sales. It sold 46,547 vehicles, up 27 per cent on November 2014. The company has sold 437,512 vehicles in the first 11 months of 2015, which means this will probably be the company’s best year yet – much of this performance can be laid at the door of the recently-launched Jaguar XE and the continued growth of Land Rover.

Retail sales for the month of November were up 70 per cent in the UK, 68 per cent up in Europe, 52 per cent up in North America and 8 per cent up year-on-year in other overseas markets. Retail volumes in China were down 22 per cent for the month, reflecting a slowdown in that country’s economy. Marking its best November yet, Land Rover sold 38,555 vehicles in the month, up 26 per cent year-on-year. Calendar year-to-date sales reached 361,908 vehicles, 4 per cent up on the prior year. Best-sellers for the month included the Range Rover Sport, 13 per cent up year-on-year, the Land Rover Discovery, 7 per cent up, and the Range Rover, which was 15 per cent up on the previous year. The new Discovery Sport continues to grow in popularity, with sales of 9358 in the month.

Jaguar delivered 7992 vehicles in the month, up 33 per cent on November 2014. Calendar year-to-date sales were 75,604, up 1 per cent year-on-year. Europe and UK recorded impressive year-on-year growth of 123 per cent and 66 per cent, respectively, for the month of November and retails in the Overseas region were 29 per cent up year-on-year. Sales of the new Jaguar XE were 3953 for the month, with a total of 19,669 retailed since sales began in the summer.

Keith Adams

32 Comments

  1. Great news, Ive just bought a brand new XF – however, XE sales are not anything like I would have expected and despite their two mainstream models being brand new, they’re only 1% up YOY? Strange

  2. Jaguar sales are still a bit disappointing really, only 1% up for the year even with the added XE sales, and less than a quarter of Land Rover sales. The XF model change will have affected things, but I suspect the F-Pace will be the big breakthrough car.

    To me the F-Pace will do for Jaguar what the RR Evoque and RR Sport did for RR, and Cayenne did for Porsche, and give a massive (and much needed) boost to the “brand”

  3. I went back to the X-Type story, it states that in 2003 around 50,000 were produced, peak year. If XE sales remain at this level, that will be about the same disappointing output, difference is Ford announced 100,000 sales for the X-type, I never read projected figures from Tata, someone read anything?
    Isn’t XE cannibalising some of the XF sales too? There’s not much difference in between them, I guess that the same can be said about the Germans 3/5 or A4/A6…
    As I wrote above, is the production of both cars ramped up gently to ensure quality and craftsmanship is top notch or is there simply not enough buyers to sway from the teutons? Still it’s 4000 sales taken from them and maybe some S60 I guess.

    • I think the projections are about 50k per year. Jag are selling the car at a premium compared to the equivalent German trinity car. I think the business model is to maximise profits per unit as opposed to outright sales. The XE, Discovery Sport and Evoque all use engines from their new plant in Wolverhampton, maybe they are still running the plant in as it were.

  4. It is indeed a bit early to claim that the XE will follow in the X-type’s steps. In the UK it seems fairly popular – a friend of mine had one of the very first ones delivered in summer and is very pleased, but then she had a XF before.

    Here in Germany trying to spot a XE is similar to MG-6 spotting in the UK – but that is not surprising.

  5. At first glance the XEs sales are disappointing. I think JLR weren’t intending to blast them out but it needs to perform better if they are to achieve anywhere near 200,000 Jaguar units per year.

    will the F-pace steal Land/Range Rover sales? I think the next 12/18 months sales could give a definitive answer as to the type of future the Jaguar marque will have.

    • I imagine it will steal a few RR Evoque and Sport sales, but will cause FAR more of a dent to BMW and Audi, and the Porsche Cayman. Plus all the Japanese (Lexus, Infiniti, Acura), Korean and American SUVs that we don’t see here, but are very popular in the US.

  6. XE sales: 20000 since start of deliveries, 4000 this month. This is an annual rate of nearly 50000 a year, which matches the X-type at its peak. It hasn’t been sold in the USA yet, so there is room to do more. I believe the USA is waiting for the petrol Ingenium engine.

  7. Agree with the comments on Jaguar, been a long slog to grow the brand sales despite the amazing products they have recently launched. Pretty sure the XF changeover has offset the growth from XE.

    They still have some big gaps to fill, especially new petrol engines and estates but the F-Pace will be a massive success surely.

    Hopefully the F-Type is doing ok for its admittedly small segment – everyone says 911s are popular but they’ve had years to build

  8. The problem is the latest Jaguar models have lost their interior ambience and distinctiveness on the road, which is disappointing after cars like the original XF, XK and F-Type.

    I have said since day 1 that they played it far too safe and derivative with the XE. These early sales figures may be an indication of the effect of that.

    • The XE (and Mk2 XF) are very conservative, whereas they’ve been braver with the F-Pace, and I think will be rewarded for this.

      It still seems odd that the most distinctive saloon Jaguar make is the XJ, which is where you’d expect to find their most conservative styling!

  9. I sat in a Jaguar XE in the summer at some local show and the car really impressed me. It really was a move forward for the company and at £ 28,000, only £ 4000 more than a basic BMW 3 series, and a lot better value for money.
    People might moan about the lack of wood and chrome, but life has moved on, and the XE deserves to be success. Also a Jaguar with the same fuel consumption and road tax as a supermini, this really is a step forward.

  10. Funny that most commenters are choosing to talk about Jag, when its the LR part of JLR that delivers the real sales volume. The new Discovery Sport looks great and it’s good to hear it’s selling well.

    • I guess it’s because we’re taking for granted the success of LR! Great to see the Disco Sport doing well, but it’s hardly news seeing how well Freelander 2 and the related RR Evoque did.

      Jaguar sales ARE an issue, by itself the company would be in serious trouble, as its sales are nowhere near high enough to justify the expenditure to keep up with its German rivals.

  11. Does anyone else find it a little odd that a positive press release for JLR (by far the most significant and successful part of the old BL empire, with a huge UK payroll) is published and it only attracts only 15, often negative, comments? Meanwhile, published on the very same day, an article about a struggling Chinese car importer, based in Longbridge, attracts 60 posts and a lot of passion?

    Why is this?

  12. @ John, MG would sell their mother to achieve the sales Jaguar have at the moment. Also JLR have a very high local content, with a new engine factory in the West Midlands, where MG before they decided to import all their cars, merely assembled their cars from a kit and had almost no local content.( Ironically MG Longbridge was like the old Belgian Allegro factory, who used to send a few thousand cars a year over in the late seventies, where the Belgians assembled the cars from British built kits).

    • I am glad someone has mentioned the local content as there are also many components suppliers as well as specialist design, engineering and production sign-off consultancy firms who are based in the UK and provide services to Jaguar Land Rover, whether for volume mainline or low volume specialist products.

      Also consider the fact that many major components are also made in the UK. This not only enhances Jaguar Land Rover’s efficiency based on geographical localisation, but also has benefits in terms of reduced transportation costs and environmental implications compared to importing an engine and gearbox from one country, body pressings from another, etc.

  13. Sales up 27 per cent, most of the company’s products going for export and JLR taking on more staff, why don’t people talk the company up more? This is a company producing cars in Britain- OK not British owned, but producing cars here- that is doing very well and earning hundreds of millions in exports. Would people sooner it was a fading state controlled enterprise dogged by strikes, poor quality and falling sales like a certain corporation that JLR once belonged to?

  14. After 6 months experience with a number of XE joining its competitors on a fleet I manage, I can confirm the XE has proved itself. Average mileage 22,000 kms and really impressing with both competitive running costs and very impressive quality. All drivers including myself report a superior drive in terms of handling/comfort. Only negative comments are rear seat room not great but that can be said of both C-Class, A4 and 3-series and some minor interior trim really feels poor to the touch. No reports of rattles or squeeks though so from my experience better than C-Class(interior looks great but not holding up after mileage) and 3-Series actually very poor in this area. None of them match A4 for interior but XE runs very close and is definitely a better drive.

    XE refinement not as good as C-Class but our drivers reckon if driven with spirit the XE sounds and feels sportier.

  15. @ Padraic, glad to hear your XE has proved in itself in high mileage fleet use and the only downsides are minor gripes about switchgear quality and the car has been good overall. I think if you want the totally silent driving experience, you have to go for the XJ or top of the range XF, and I think a bit of engine and exhaust note is more desirable in an XE, which is a sporting saloon, not a limo.
    Again the 3 series quality gets a mention. My colleague, Neil, has motability cars and has traded in his BMW recently, stating the interior quality was poor and the dash and seats were cheap looking and more suited to something like a Kia. I think if Jaguar can push the quality aspect more, and the Britishness, the BMW 3 series should be facing a real fight.

    • I agree that our drivers have only minor gripes about interior quality which Jaguar could easily fix. Did a straw poll yesterday. Like the cat food advert 8 out of 10 drivers chose the XE over the 3-Series, C-Class and A4. The C-Class got 2 votes. Also looked at our maintenance cards over the last 6 months. Otherthan oil changes the XE has nothing to report as has the A4, Lexus IS and Volvo V60. C-Class is great except for a couple of electrical issues. Sorry to report the 3-Series and we have a number of them, all reported with issues. 3-Series does get thumbs up for driving experience. All drivers reported the 3-Series and XE as the nicer drives.

  16. @ Padraic, this has to be a good sign as your Jaguars can clearly cope with high mileages with no problems. We’d hope the word gets out that the XE is both very reliable as well as a good drive and sales really start to take off.

    • i like to think of Rover as being alive and well and doing very nicely, building sought after and profitable four wheel drives, selling very much to the modern equivalent of the people that they sold to in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s! Okay, the Rover name might be pre fixed with “Land” or “Range”, but that’s evolution!

      • Range Rovers are typically some of the worst polluters due to their excessive size/weight/engine capacity but I do not exclude Audi/Porsche/Mercedes/BMW etc and as for Volkswagen!

        • But, Range Rovers start at 129g CO2 per km, while the last MINI I owned produced 207g CO2 per km.

          Writing off entire brands of cars without looking at the detail can’t be fair, surely?

          • I have looked at the detail, and please advise the “real world” Nox emissions of the 129g Co2 Range Rover you mention.

            In fact I began studying the details many years ago, especially the public health risks due the particulates problems of diesels and their dangerous levels of Nox from the tailpipe of which the public has been misled.
            At a closed customer forum of a certain well known car maker, several years in advance of the current VW “dieselgate” investigations, I made some unpopular allegations of cheating of exhaust emissions by manipulation by the ECU programme code. Needless to say, I was not invited again, despite their market researchers having my name on a list as an “early adopter of new technology” and with the financial means to sign the excessive cheque to own their latest Frankensteinian creation .

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