Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) narrowed its losses for the three-month period to the end of September but remains unable to meet strong demand for its most profitable models due to ongoing chip shortages, the company said.
JLR lost £173 million in the quarter, compared with £302m in the same quarter in 2021, as wholesales (sales to dealers) rose 18% to 89,899 units, according to company figures.
The company is sitting on an order bank of 205,000 cars, 70% of which are for the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Defender. “Demand for our most profitable and desired vehicles remains strong,” CEO Thierry Bolloré said in a statement.
The Defender remained the company’s best-selling car for the period, with wholesales at 17,483 units. The Range Rover Evoque was the number two best-seller, followed by the Range Rover, sales of which more than doubled from the previous quarter to 12,157.
JLR has suffered a slow ramp-up in production of both the new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport as it struggled to source chips. However, it said it expects to see the chip shortage ease after “increasing partnership agreements with semiconductor suppliers” that will boost volumes in the next six months.
JLR has benefited from a 38% increase in sales in China, which became its biggest retail market in the last quarter, overtaking Europe. Sales were down 10% in Europe, and 7% in the UK specifically, from the previous quarter.
Jaguar wholesales, meanwhile, were up from the same period last year despite a 19% dip in sales for the I-Pace electric SUV compared with the same period last year. Sales of the Jaguar F-Pace SUV climbed 88% to 7474, making it the brand's most popular model by far.
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I would be happy if they went bust. Land Rovers are just an anachronism driven by narcissists with little imagination. By which I mean, people who are obsessed with what they look like, who don't understand that our planet cannot continue feeding their ego.
And at the same time, killing off Jaguar by refusing to build them.
They blame the chip shortage, but other companies have managed to source their semiconductors and not killed off an entire brand in the process!
Theirry Bollore continues to destroy Jaguar. How big a market is there when they were selling £30k cars and his idea that Jaguar customers will then happily pay £100k for a Jaguar?
I think you're missing the point. They weren't selling £30k cars - despite being excellent products. As Bollore himself said - and I paraphrase - 'people would test drive an XE, really like it, then go off and buy a 3 series or A4'
marker,
I don't think what Bollore said was true as they were selling. The problem with the XE and a lot of the Jaguars is they don't have 1:1 parity with those competitors. BMW have a 1.5l engine that sells in a large number of their cars, the 318 and d versions. Jaugar doesn't have an equivalent. The BMW is also spec'd lower without leather seats etc, to be a cheaper car. Jaguar was all leather.
When people like Bollore, and I can also state journalists too, that Jaguar has been out sold by their competitors they fail to also state that Jaguar isn't directly competing with those marques either.
But Jaguar needed to do a 1-series or A Class rival. Needed to create steps for new customers to get on to the brand. Instead Bollore thinks they'll do better selling 100k EV instead. I suspect they won't.
I think you're missing the point. They weren't selling £30k cars - despite being excellent products. As Bollore himself said - and I paraphrase - 'people would test drive an XE, really like it, then go off and buy a 3 series or A4'