Luxury car maker sees 30% MidEast growth

Luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover has announced vehicle sales growth of more than 30 percent in the Middle East and North Africa in 2012.

The manufacturer's MENA unit said its Land Rover brand saw a 34 percent increase last year while Jaguar vehicle sales rose by 27 percent.

The announcement echoed Jaguar Land Rover's global retail sales growth of 30 percent in 2012, the best in the company's history.

For the Jaguar brand, the MENA performance bucked the global trend which saw only a six percent increase in sales.

In a statement, Jaguar Land Rover MENA cited its decision to "revitalise brand operations within strategic markets across the region" as a key factor in driving the growth, resulting in improved service levels and customer facing processes.

It added that traditionally strong GCC markets such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE "continued to maintain their growth position".

Robin Colgan, managing director for Jaguar Land Rover MENA said: "This performance cements Jaguar Land Rover's position as one of the leading premium automotive manufacturers in the region.

"We look forward to continuing this success in 2013, driven by the introduction of new models including the All-New Range Rover and the new Jaguar F-TYPE."

He said sales of Land Rover vehicles in the region were boosted by the appeal of the Range Rover Evoque which saw an increase of 470 percent.

In December, it was reported that Saudi Arabia had signed a letter of intent with Tata Group to manufacture 50,000 Land Rover vehicles a year in the kingdom.

The SR4.5bn ($1.2bn) investment may later be extended to other Jaguar Land Rover brands, and the factory will start up in 2017 in either the Jubail or Yanbu industrial cities.