Jaguar Land Rover posts best MidEast sales

Luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has posted its best sales results in the Middle East and North Africa for four years.

Jaguar posted sales growth of 21 percent for the first half of its 2012-2013 fiscal year (April to September) while Land Rover sales were up 33 percent compared to the year earlier period.

The car maker, owned by India's Tata Group, confirmed that all nameplates across the Jaguar line-up contributed to the growth, with sales of its luxury saloon the Jaguar XF up 38 percent.

Land Rover's sales growth in the region was led by continued demand for its LR2/Freelander 2 and Range Rover Evoque vehicles, the company said in a statement.

Robin Colgan, managing director of Jaguar Land Rover MENA, said: "This performance confirms that demand remains high for our current line-up of vehicles, and with the introduction of new products like our 13MY Jaguar vehicles and the All-New Range Rover, I am confident we will continue to experience strong growth."

The news reaffirms the importance of the region for Jaguar Land Rover, which remains Jaguar's fifth and Land Rover's sixth largest market globally.

Market highlights for Jaguar included a sales increase of 400 percent in Morocco while the brand continued to sustain year on year sales growth in key GCC markets including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

In the GCC, Land Rover said the Range Rover Sport made a significant contribution towards double digit sales growth for Kuwait (61 percent), Qatar (27 percent) and Saudi Arabia (10 percent).