Hit by semiconductor shortage, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Friday said its retail sales declined by 36 per cent to 79,008 units in the fourth quarter of 2021-22 fiscal as compared with same period last year.

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The Tata Motors-owned luxury automaker noted that the retail sales for the three-month period continued to be constrained by the global semiconductor shortage.

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However, the company saw a gradual improvement in chip supply leading to improved production and wholesale volumes compared to the previous quarter and this is expected to continue through the next fiscal year, it added.

Jaguar sales for the period under review stood at 14,574 units, down 38 per cent from the year-ago period.

Land Rover retail sales declined year-on-year by 36 per cent at 64,434 units.

Retail sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022 were 3,76,381 units, down 14 per cent as compared to the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, the automaker stated.

Despite the impact of the semiconductor shortage on production and sales, the company continues to see strong demand for its products with global retail orders again setting new records in the fourth quarter, it added.

As on March 31, 2022, the total order book has grown to over 1,68,000 units, up around 14,000 orders from December 31, 2021 period. Demand for the new Range Rover and New

Defender are particularly strong with over 45,500 orders and 40,000 orders respectively, JLR stated.

JLR Chief Commercial Officer Lennard Hoornik said the customer response to the first deliveries of new Range Rover is strong and the company remains optimistic for the future, despite the geopolitical and macro-economic challenges facing the industry at present.

"The conflict in Ukraine has not materially impacted our wholesale volumes in the quarter. The impact on production has also been limited due to active management of the parts supply chain, including developing alternatives for the relatively small number of parts that are sourced from the affected countries," he added.

However, it is difficult to predict how supply and inflationary pressures will impact the coming quarters, Hoornik said.