Land Rover sales boost Tata Motors
DEMAND for luxury four-by-four cars is booming, according to sales figures from Jaguar Land Rover parent Tata Motors published yesterday.
Global sales at Land Rover, where top-notch Range Rover models retail for up to £86,000, jumped 30 per cent in January compared with January 2009, to 17,321 cars.
Jaguar sales climbed more slowly, rising three per cent in January to 3,056 worldwide, resulting in an overall 25 per cent hike in luxury brand car sales year-on-year.
The growth far outstripped Tata Motors’ overall global car sales, which rose 16 per cent to 98,998 in January.
Sales of passenger vehicles rose 17 per cent to 53,183 cars.
The figures follow Tata Motors’ third-quarter results last Friday that showed 22 per cent revenue growth and a 58 per cent jump in operating profit in the three months to December 31, compared with the same quarter in 2009.
Jaguar Land Rover “continued to show strong profitability”, the company said in the results statement, making £275m profit after tax as the market improved and customers snapped up its new designs.” Tata Motors is India’s biggest carmaker with $20bn (£12.5bn) revenues in 2009.