JLR has begun to cut through its substantial order book backlog, reducing it by 15,000 cars since the end of March as it posted its best production numbers since Q4 FY2021.
This, the company formerly known as Jaguar Land Rover said, was down to the continuing improvement in chip and other supply constraints that had hammered production over the past couple of years, allowing a ramp-up in customer deliveries with around 100,000 cars rolling off production lines.
These constraints pushed waiting orders to a high of 215,000 at the end of 2022, with the financial year finishing (31 March) at 200,000.
Major progress was then made in the first quarter of the 2024 financial year (ending 30 June), with order books cut to 185,000 cars – significant as more than 100,000 new retail orders were placed during the same time.
Of those cars on the wait list, around 140,600 (76%) are either Range Rover, Range Rover Sport or Land Rover Defender models. Those first two models entered a new generation recently, promoting a boom in sales.
JLR has previously described those three as its “most profitable models”, which has been shown by the significant increases in retail sales compared with the same quarter a year ago: Range Rover up 199%, Range Rover Sport up 42% and Defender up 90%.
Overall, retail sales rose in the first quarter of FY2024 with another 101,994 cars (up 29% against previous year) sold between April and June.
Retail volumes were higher in North America (up 42%), China (up 40%) and the UK (up 6%) but not in Europe.
In addition, JLR reported a further 93,253 cars sold wholesale (to dealers), up 30% year on year. They were, however, slightly lower (down 1%, the same quarter-on-quarter decrease as retail) compared with the previous quarter, reflecting shipping schedules.
With JLR’s move to the agency model imminent, whereby it will sell directly to customers, these figures will soon merge into one.
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