JLR world sales rise 6.6pc

The luxury car maker, which has its engine manufacturing centre at the i54 to the north of Wolverhampton, sold 65,097 vehicles in the month.

Its announcement cane a day after trade figures showed the UK new car market was continuing to slow down.

This year so far total sales for JLR are up 7.5 per cent to 466,662 with Jaguar leading the way.

Sales of Jaguar are up 33 per cent for the year at 137,498 and in September increased 3.9 per cent on the year to 18,336.

Land Rover sales rose 7.7 per cent to 46,761 for the month, but overall for the year are down 0.5 per cent to 329,164.

September's increase reflects continued solid sales of the Jaguar F-PACE as well as the introduction of the Range Rover Velar, Jaguar XF Sportbrake and long wheel base Jaguar XFL in China.

Retail sales in September were up year-on-year in China (20.1 per cent), North America (17.1 per cent) and Europe (one per cent) but down 3.7 per cent in the UK reflecting general market conditions.

Andy Goss, Jaguar Land Rover group sales operations director, said: “September saw a solid performance this month across both of our brands, thanks in large part to continued customer demand for the Jaguar F-PACE and Discovery Sport, as well as an impressive consumer response to the new Range Rover Velar."

This month sees the launch of the 2018 model of Range Rover Sport, which will be JLR’s first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and marks a significant step on the company’s road to electrification.

The latest Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders' figures for the UK for last month showed the new car market had declined for a sixth consecutive month. Just over 426,000 new cars were registered in September, down 9.3 per cent on the same month last year.