Sales of Tata Motors' commercial vehicles unit were flat in April even if the parent brand had poor sales. It’s because the slump had been offset by the high demand for Jaguar Land Rover vehicles. Tata Motors, a member of the Tata Group conglomerate, was able to sell 87,377 vehicles in April. Its overall passenger-cars sales increased by 7% to 49,369 compared with the previous year. Commercial vehicle sales fell 8% to 38,008 units. Jaguar Land Rover sales increased by 29% to 25,143 last month. Jaguar sold 17% more vehicles to reach 3,603 units while sales at Land Rover rose by 32% to 21,540. The sales increase experienced by Land Rover was helped by the rising demand for the Range Rover Evoque premium compact SUV. Since the launch of the Evoque SUV in September 2011, JLR has sold over 60,000 Evoques around the world. Tata, which purchased the two British brands from Ford in 2008 for $2.5 billion, is planning to invest $12 billion in JLR in over five years to get a larger share of the premium car market that’s dominated by BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz.
Strong demand for Jaguar Land Rover vehicles helps Tata Motors remain flat in April
by Andrew Christian, Email, 18 May, 2012
