Jaguar Land Rover sales fall despite hopes for Chinese recovery

Jaguar Land Rover sales fell last month, despite the car maker seeing “green shoots” of a recovery in the all-important struggling Chinese market.

The manufacturer, which is owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, saw retail sales drop 3.4 per cent year-on-year in November.

Read more: British car industry troubles run far deeper than Brexit

But in China, they continued improving to the tune of 29 per cent year on year, marking the fifth consecutive month of double-digit sales growth in the country. Sales in North America grew 4.9 per cent.

However, sales fell 10.8 per cent in the UK, reflecting the continued struggle for British manufacturers on home turf.

Headwinds such as Brexit uncertainty and a slowdown in the global automotive industry have hit companies trying to sell cars in Britain.

Felix Brautigam, Jaguar Land Rover chief commercial officer, said: “Against the backdrop of a downturn in the global automotive market, we were pleased to see our sales grow in the US and China.

“Despite the ongoing headwinds in China, we continue to see green shoots of recovery in our sales there. The intensive work with our retailers in the region, combined with significant process and product improvements are starting to gain traction.

Read more: Car production falls again amid ‘worrying times’ for UK automotive industry

“For Jaguar globally, we were very excited to launch our new F-Type at the beginning of December, to initial very positive customer and media reaction.

“Land Rover continues to perform well overall, with a very rich mix of models.”