Mumbai: The coronavirus pandemic has significantly impacted the sales of Tata Motor’s controlled luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover’s retail sales. Total sales of the company dropped by 12.1% to 508,659 vehicles in the 2019-20 Financial Year.
The dismal fourth-quarter sales due to the pandemic have affected the overall annual sales, JLR has said.
The company’s total retail sales for the January-March quarter were 109,869 vehicles, down 30.9% compared to the same period last year.
Fiscal 2019/20 sales have been impacted across all regions with lower sales in North America (7.5% down on record prior year), China (8.9%), UK (9.6%), Europe (16.1%) and overseas (20.3%). China had generated double-digit growth in Q2 and Q3 and, with lockdown measures easing, nearly all of the company’s retailers in the region have now reopened and sales are recovering.
“2019/20 has been a year of unprecedented disruption for the automotive sector. Despite the impact of regulatory change, shifting consumer tastes, Brexit and ongoing trade tensions, sales for Jaguar and Land Rover were showing improvement until the coronavirus pandemic hit in the fourth quarter” said Felix Brautigam, Jaguar Land Rover Chief Commercial Officer.
In light of the ongoing coronavirus situation, Jaguar Land Rover has temporarily suspended production at its facilities outside China. In addition, the company is tightly managing all other costs and investments as well as working capital. Jaguar Land Rover will be reporting audited results for the financial year ended 31 March 2020 at a later date but ended this financial year with £3.6 billion of cash and short-term investments (unaudited) and an undrawn revolving credit facility of £1.9 billion.