Fifth Consecutive Year Of Record Global Sales For Jaguar

Jaguar sold over 130,000 vehicles in its 64 world markets last year, representing a sales increase of 29% on 2001.

In what was a very competitive year in the premium car sector, Jaguar’s sales were at their highest ever, marking 2002 as the fifth consecutive record sales year. The newest addition to Jaguar’s range, the X-TYPE, achieved the status of fastest selling Jaguar ever, and topped 100,000 sales since its 2001 launch.

Over 75% of all Jaguars built at the company’s three plants in Coventry, Birmingham and Liverpool in the UK were exported, maintaining the company’s long-standing record as one of Britain’s major exporters. In its largest market, the USA, Jaguar sold over 61,000 vehicles, representing growth of 37% on 2001, with the X-TYPE making up half of these sales.

In the UK, nearly 30,000 vehicles were sold – also an increase of 37% on 2001. Two-thirds of these sales were made up by the X-TYPE, with the majority of the remainder made up by the S-TYPE, a revised version of which was introduced in March, including the range-topping supercharged S-TYPE R.

Jaguar's major European markets saw steady growth of over 6% through 2002, with Italy, now established as the company's third largest global market, achieving sales growth of more than 50% to over 6,000 vehicles. The Spanish and French markets also saw healthy increases with nearly 5,000 vehicles sold between them.

Other significant sales gains came from the Asia Pacific region, with a 49% increase on 2001. Highlights include Japan, which saw an increase in sales of over 40% to 5,158 cars, and Australia where more than 1,700 vehicles were sold, representing growth of 65% on 2001.

Commenting on the year’s performance, Jaguar’s managing director Mike Beasley said: "These figures are the result of our product led expansion of the last couple of years, and it is very satisfying to see that our hard work is paying off. When the all-new XJ saloon goes on sale in the spring we will have introduced new models across our range of vehicles in the space of a year. Last year was an extremely competitive climate which underscored the importance of all this development, and the result is that we are well positioned for an exciting 2003."