Author:
ROBIN ROBERTS
It’s not just in the UK that small business owners and company car drivers are clamouring for Jaguar Land Rover products. It seems the world wants a slice of the action, too.
That’s according to global sales and service director Phil Popham, who says that both the Jaguar and Land Rover brands will have a presence in all the world’s key major cities within three to four years, says .
Speaking at the automechanika Moscow Motor Show last week (27-30 August), Popham said: “We are putting in place the locations, size and infrastructure we need.”
With a 40.5% increase in group sales in the first six months of this year compared with 2011, Popham says their plans are being revamped because of the success of the Range Rover Evoque – winner of Business Car Manager’s ‘It’s my business and I’ll buy what I want to’ Best Business Car award 2012.
“China is growing rapidly,” Popham added. “It is relatively new territory: we have been there only six years. But we have a massive expansion plan from 90 dealers to 120 and then 150. All will be within reach of a population of one million people.” Brazil and Russia were also providing fertile markets for the brand.
JLR sold more than 210,000 cars from January to July this year – 177,500 Land Rovers and Range Rovers (up 46 per cent) and almost 33,000 Jaguars (an increase of more than 16 per cent). China was up 86 per cent and the UK 36 per cent.
But with plans to start manufacturing cars for China in China as part of the collaboration deal with Chinese manufacturer Chery, the option to expand the Freelander assembly operation in India if necessary and an eye on Brazil as a production base, JLR is on course to keep growing, Popham believes. It is also said to be considering producing models in Saudi Arabia as well as expanding Indian production lines for the current Defender to be built there.
“Although it makes sense to build in a market for that market, we should not ignore that a significant amount of our business is still in Europe,’ he added. ‘We just have to work on our priorities.”
Recently Jaguar Land Rover announced that it was moving to three-shift round the clock production at its Halewood factory in Merseyside because of demand for its cars.
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