Tata Motor's JLR retail sales drop 0.7% at 128,953 units in September quarter

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the UK subsidiary of Tata Motors, on Monday reported a marginal decline of 0.7 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in its retail sales at 128,953 units in the July-September quarter, hit by weak demand in US, UK and overseas market. Retail sales in China continued to recover as the company's local turnaround plan gathered momentum, the company said in a statement.

JLR, the Britain's largest automotive manufacturer, has posted third consecutive month of double-digit sales growth of 24.3 per cent in China. While sales in Europe was slightly up by 0.9 per cent, retail sales in the US declined by 1 per cent, followed by 5.1 per cent in UK and 19.2 per cent in overseas markets.

Of the brands, Jaguar retail sales for July-September period were down 11 per cent y-o-y to 37,323 vehicles, and Land Rover retails were 91,630 vehicles, up 4.2 per cent on the yearly basis.

"Against challenging market headwinds, for the third consecutive month we have achieved double-digit growth in China, benefitting from our local turnaround plan and performing ahead of the broader market. We have also outperformed shrinking markets in other regions," said Felix Brautigam, Jaguar Land Rover Chief Commercial Officer.

"Whilst some of the traditional Jaguar segments are struggling in the current macro-economic environment, the treble World Car Award-winning I-PACE continues to attract new customers to the Jaguar brand," Brautigam added.

In China, retail sales of the Range Rover Evoque grew by 54.6 per cent, with sales of the all-new model only just starting in the region, JLR said. "Sales were also up strongly for the Range Rover Sport (+17.5%) and Jaguar I-PACE (sales of 3,666 units, up 2,593 units)."

Last week, Tata Motors had reported 48 per cent decline in total sales at 36,376 units in September as compared to 69,991 units sold in the same month last year. Total domestic sales were down 50 per cent at 32,376 units as against 64,598 units in the year-ago period.

Reacting to JLR sales numbers, shares of Tata Motors slipped as much as 3 per cent in intraday trade before closing at Rs 117.45 apiece, down 1.76 per cent.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar

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