Tata Motors' JLR April sales fall 2.3%

Tata Motors' Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Friday reported 2.3% decline in its total sales for the month of April 2017.

In April, JLR recorded retail sales of 40,385 units, which was down 2.3% compared to similar month a year ago.

Andy Goss, Jaguar Land Rover Group Sales Operations Director said, “A small decrease in sales was seen due to two factors. In the UK, customers purchased vehicles before the increase in vehicle tax on 1st April. In addition, the run-out of the previous Discovery model accounted for a year-on-year decrease in Land Rover sales.”

On geographical basis, retail sales was seen up in North America (32.5%), China (10.1%) and Europe (2.7%) on year-on-year (yoy) basis. Decline was witnessed in United Kingdom (UK) and other overseas markets which by 34.6% yoy and 19.7% yoy respectively.

Sales from Jaguar stood at 12,310 vehicles, growing by 54% a year ago same month led by continuing strong sales of the F-PACE, XE and the long wheel base XFL from the China joint venture.

Meanwhile, retail sales of Land Rover was at 28,075 vehicles, down 15.8% on April last year. JLR said, “This primarily reflected the run-out of the Discovery and softer sales of other models, which were only partially offset by sales of the all-new Discovery and solid sales of Range Rover.”

From January – April 2017, JLR has sold a total of 219,891 vehicles, registering growth of 9.9% compared to corresponding period of previous year.

Goss feels sales will be better in the coming month. He said, “Sales will increase from this month as the all-new Discovery model continues to go on sale across the world, particularly in China and North America, two of Jaguar Land Rover’s biggest markets.”