Luxury car maker sees UAE sales in 2011 grow by 15%

Luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover has seen its sales in the UAE grow by more than 15 percent so far in 2011. It said strong performance growth from January to October 2011 compared to the same period last year, indicated a return to pre-recession sales levels. Al Tayer Motors, Jaguar Land Rover's exclusive importer-dealer in the UAE, Jaguar sales had risen 20 percent while Land Rover sales had grown 11 percent. Land Rover sales were driven by the LR4 model, which saw a 57 percent sales increase, while the Jaguar XJ led Jaguar's growth with a 89 percent increase. Regionally, the iconic British marque has also announced plans to increase its network of sales and service outlets across the Middle East North Africa and Pakistan by 33 percent in the next 24 months. MENAP ranks as Jaguar Land Rover's fifth largest market in terms of retail volumes globally. The company recently expanded into Azerbaijan and increased its presence in Iraq by introducing the Jaguar brand. Robin Colgan, managing director of Jaguar Land Rover MENAP, said: "We have continued to experience strong sales in the MENAP region. Next year we anticipate further growth with our strongest and most comprehensive line-up yet. Ashok Khanna, CEO Al Tayer Motors, added: "Al Tayer Motors' Land Rover showroom on Sheikh Zayed Road was the facility with the highest sales for the Range Rover brand worldwide in 2010, a feat achieved for the fourth time in the past five years. "This year we continued to enjoy healthy sales for Land Rover as well as Jaguar." The Range Rover Evoque, which has been well-received globally, will be launched in the UAE next week, he added. The Range Rover Evoque has already attracted over 32,000 advance orders worldwide, 90 percent of the customers being new to the Range Rover brand. On a global scale, Jaguar Land Rover recorded a 26 percent increase in global retail sales for September 2011, buoyed largely by record growth in China of 157 percent for Jaguar and 85 percent for Land Rover.