China is on course to become Jaguar Land Rover's largest market, its latest trading figures have confirmed.
The group announced pre-tax profits of £1.5bn in 2011-12, up from £1.12bn year-on-year. In total, JLR sold 314,433 vehicles, a 29.1 per cent rise year-on-year. Land Rover accounted for 260,394 sales, Jaguar 54,039.
Although Britain remained the largest market, with sales of 60,022 vehicles, up 3.2 per cent year-on-year, Chinese sales rose by 76 per cent to 50,994 car sales. With sales in China accounting for nearly a fifth of all JLR sales in the first three months of 2012, that market is expected to overtake Britain this year.
The group’s rapid growth looks set to continue. Pre-tax profits for the first quarter of 2012 were £530m, up from £299m year-on-year. Much of the success has been driven by sales of the Range Rover Evoque; approximately 60,217 were sold in the first three months of this year, of 83,903 total Land Rover sales.
JLR now exports 80 per cent of its production.
