Jaguar Land Rover celebrate top UK sales

Jaguar Land Rover was celebrating today after recording its best ever sales month in the UK in its 63-year history.

The West Midlands firm boosted its registrations by six per cent in the UK during March.

A 30 per cent surge in sales for the updated Range Rover led to UK sales beating a previous record set in 2010 with total sales of 11,400 for the month of March — the highest monthly total in the company's history. It also smashed records for China and India.

China and India were up by 33 per cent and 61 per cent respectively, while there were increases of 24 per cent in the USA and 47 per cent in Russia.

Phil Popham, group sales operations director, said: "Despite a challenging business environment, Jaguar Land Rover is flourishing on a global scale with March sales reflecting the confidence consumers have in our brands and products."

Global brand director John Edwards said: "These latest sales results reflect the growing confidence of the market and the positive response we have had to our latest product offerings.

"Nowhere is this more evident than in the UK where we have once again broken an incredible sales record."

Other manufacturers are finding life tougher in the UK market, according to figures released by the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders today.

New car sales dipped by eight per cent in the UK during March — an important month because of the arrival of the latest registration plates.

While the Mini continues to go from strength to strength, and registered a 17 per cent increase in sales thanks to the arrival of its model year 11 cars, there were substantial falls for Renault, down 30 per cent; Hyundai, down 26 per cent; and Ford, down 15 per cent.

A total of 366,101 new cars were registered last month, compared with 397,383 for March in 2010.

Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive, said the market was expected to decline further.