Wolverhampton-built engines power Jaguar Land Rover to best ever January sales
Jaguar sales more than doubled in January, boosted by the performance of its XE saloon powered by Wolverhampton-built engines.
Combined with demand for the Range Rover Evoque and the new Discovery Sport – also powered by Wolverhampton-built Ingenium diesels – it added up to the best January sales figures in Jaguar Land Rover's history, the firm revealed today.
The West Midlands-based car maker sold 46,016 cars last month, up 24 per cent on January last year.
Increasing numbers of JLR's cars now come with ultra-frugal Ingenium diesel engines made at the factory on the i54 site in Wolverhampton, beside the M54. The plant will start producing petrol engines later this year.
January saw JLR enjoy growth around the world, with sales accelerating by 36 per cent in the UK and by 65 per cent across the rest of Europe.
In North America they were up nine per cent and even in China – where economic woes saw sales slump last yar – they were up five per cent.
Andy Goss, JLR's group sales operations director, said: "Following our best full year global sales in 2015, this is a great start to the new year, with very strong performance from both brands and across all of our key regions.
"Europe and the UK retailed almost 20,000 vehicles this month alone, driven by solid sales of the XE and the Discovery Sport.
"Similarly, in China market response to the locally-produced Discovery Sport was very positive with retails of almost 3,000 in its second month of sales."
Marking its best January ever, Land Rover sold 38,075 vehicles in the month, up 20 per cent year-on-year.
Best-sellers for the month were the Range Rover Evoque, retailing 9,729 vehicles and the Discovery Sport, with sales of 9,486 in the month.
Demand for the iconic Defender was very strong in its last month of production, with its best January performance in over a decade.
Jaguar had its best January performance since 2005, delivering 7,941 vehicles, up 44 per cent on the previous year, due to continued solid sales of the XE, which accounted for nearly half of Jaguar's figures with 3,673 driven away from dealerships last month.
In Europe Jaguar sales more than doubled, up 131 per cent, while in the UK they nearly tripled, up 184 per cent, delivering what JLR called 'outstanding' year-on-year growth.
