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THE resurrection of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) under its cashed-up Indian owner Tata Motors is paying dividends, with the company officially announcing record global sales last week following its best-ever haul in Australia last year.

JLR looked to be in trouble at the height of the global financial crisis until previous owner Ford offloaded the British brands – part of the Blue Oval’s one-time Premier Automotive Group – to Tata Motors in 2008 for ₤1.15 billion ($A1.9b).

Since then, Tata has invested billions into building new production and research and development facilities, upgrading existing facilities and developing new models for both brands.

JLR market Insight – Click to enlarge

It has also expanded its market presence in China, where it continues to grow, and has a global workforce of 37,000 employees.

JLR last week announced its global sales results for its 2016/17 financial year, which ended March 31.

Combined, the two brands sold 604,009 units worldwide over the 12-month period, representing a 16 per cent lift over 2015/16 (521,571).

The car-maker’s tally includes sales of models from its Chinese joint-venture partner Chery.

Jaguar sales hit an all-time high of 172,848 units around the world, which is a massive 83 per cent leap over the previous financial year tally.

Next up: The Range Rover Velar is expected to be one Land Rover’s biggest sellers when it lobs later this year.

The company cited the “successful introduction” of the F-Pace – the brand’s first SUV – as a key reason for the sales surge, as well as continued interest in the still-fresh XE and XF sedans.

Land Rover hit 431,161 sales, just a one per cent increase over last financial year, with the company saying that continued interest in its Discovery Sport, Range Rover Sport and Evoque made up for the loss of the discontinued Defender.

JLR is Britain’s number-one automotive manufacturer, edging out the BMW-owned Mini, GM’s Vauxhall (set to become part of the PSA Group), lower-volume premium brands such as Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin and Lotus, as well as Japanese car-makers Nissan, Toyota and Honda.

Last year it accounted for more than 30 per cent of all UK car production, building 544,401 vehicles in 2016 at its three British manufacturing plants, with 80 per cent of production exported to 136 global markets.

In terms of sales by region, JLR grew by 32 per cent in China compared with the previous financial year, while its North American sales increased by 24 per cent.

Sales in its UK home market were up by 16 per cent and Europe grew by 13 per cent, but other overseas markets dropped by six per cent compared to the previous financial year.

Land Rover Discovery Sport

JLR Australia’s combined result of 16,605 units for the 2016 calendar year was well ahead of its 2009 tally – its first year as a group entity under Tata Motors – of 4823. By 2012 this had increased to 8715, rising to 11,273 in 2014.

The new-model onslaught has clearly had the greatest impact on JLR’s Aussie success, predominantly in the smaller segments with models such as the Discovery Sport, Evoque, XE and F-Pace.

Its recent focus on improving aftersales and customer service is also likely to improve perceptions of the brands that, in the past, have had less than stellar reputations for build quality and reliability.

In Australia, the Jaguar brand exceeded its global growth with a 2016 calendar year haul of 3008 units, an impressive 132 per cent hike over the 2015 tally of 1292 units.

Unsurprisingly that was a record for Jaguar in Australia, largely driven by the success of the BMW 3 Series-fighting XE mid-sizer, which found 1524 homes to easily take the crown as the leaping cat brand’s top seller Down Under.

The F-Pace that lobbed mid-year was a big success for Jaguar in SUV-loving Australia, capturing 829 sales in its six months on sale.

Jaguar XE

The XF large sedan was down by 11 per cent last year with 433 sales but it launched in February 2016 and the previous model did well in runout the year before.

It faced tough competition last year from the all-new Mercedes-Benz E-Class, which blitzed its segment with 1271 sales, but came close to catching the outgoing BMW 5 Series (545) and Audi A6 (517).

Things have become more difficult for the XF in 2017 with the launch of BMW’s new-generation 5 Series. So far this year, Jaguar has sold 65 XFs against 343 examples of the 5 Series and 547 E-Class variants.

The XE has also dipped in the first three months of this year, down 43 per cent to 278 units, well off the pace of the Audi A4 (560), BMW 3 Series (723) and the dominant Mercedes-Benz C-Class (2146).

While the F-Pace is off the pace compared with its more traditional SUV rivals in its segment, including the Audi Q5, BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC, its 428-unit year-to-date haul is not far off the similarly positioned BMW X4 (434) and ahead of the GLC Coupe (337) and Volvo’s XC60 (410).

Land Rover’s Australian sales in 2016 reached 13,597, its best result ever, and 14.4 per cent over what it achieved in 2015.

Jaguar F-Pace

Tellingly, Land Rover’s 2016 tally pushed it ahead of fellow SUV specialist Jeep (12,620), which only three years ago in 2014 was knocking on the door of the top 10 best-selling brands with 30,408 sales before a lengthy and significant slide.

Land Rover’s lift came on the back of ongoing interest in the Discovery Sport which grew by 109 per cent to 4432, making it the second best-selling premium mid-size SUV behind the Mercedes-Benz GLC (4454).

The Range Rover Evoque and Sport also recorded growth last year of 17.7 and 8.3 per cent respectively and following the end of Defender production, the soon-to-be-replaced Discovery was the only model to go backwards (-15.3%).

All models are in positive territory this year, except the Discovery which is in runout, but Land Rover’s first-quarter result is 3.5 per cent off the same period last year.

Both brands are unlikely to go too far backwards any time soon, with more fresh product on the way. Jaguar is set to launch a smaller SUV, likely dubbed the E-Pace, in the next two years as well as an all-electric crossover previewed by the I-Pace concept.

Land Rover’s new Discovery arrives in July and its new Range Rover Velar – based on the underpinnings of the F-Pace – hits showrooms in December this year. A new-generation Defender is also expected later in the decade.

More performance-focused variants of models from both brands tweaked by the JLR Special Operations outfit are also likely.

By Tim Nicholson

JLR market Insight – Click to enlarge

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