Jaguar Land Rover latest quarter retail sales performance down 11.9%

Jaguar Land Rover retail sales for the three-month period to 30 September 2020 were significantly improved from sales in the preceding quarter but continue to be impacted by Covid-19.

Almost all of Jaguar Land Rover's retailers worldwide are now open or partially open and the company's plants have resumed production with robust protocol and guidelines to ensure that effective social distancing, hygiene and health monitoring measures are in place and all sites are Covid-19 secure. The vehicle manufacturing plants at Solihull (UK), Halewood (UK) and Nitra (Slovakia), as well as the Engine Manufacturing Centre (UK), have now increased to a two-shift pattern to meet increasing demand.

Retail sales for the quarter ending 30 September 2020 were 113,569 vehicles, up over 50% from sales of 74,067 in the prior quarter, while down 11.9% from pre-Covid levels a year ago. China sales were particularly encouraging, up 14.6% on the prior quarter and 3.7% year-on-year. The month of September also saw sales up 28.5% year-on-year in China.

Retail sales for other regions also significantly improved from the prior quarter, including the UK (+231.6%), Europe (+78.8%), North America (+21.3%) and Overseas (+35.1%). However, sales in these regions have not yet recovered to pre-Covid levels a year ago: UK (-2.9%), North America (- 15.8%), Europe (-19.8%) and Overseas markets (-30.3%).

The launch of the exciting new Land Rover Defender continued and sales gained pace in the quarter, rising to 4,508 units in the month of September. Despite the pandemic, the company continues to launch planned new products and announced the new model year Jaguar F-PACE and Range Rover Velar, both now with mild-hybrid (MHEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variants. This brings the number of models offering PHEVs and MHEVs to seven each, with one more PHEV and four further MHEVs to be announced this year.

Jaguar Land Rover will be releasing its financial results for the quarter to 30 September 2020 later this month. The company ended September with about 3 billion of cash and short-term deposits, up 0.3 billion, primarily reflecting positive free cash flow as expected in the quarter. Total liquidity was about 5 billion, including the company's 1.9 billion revolving credit facility, which remains undrawn.

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