Jaguar Land Rover sales increase by 9% on China market jump

A Land Rover Evoque car is displayed during the Chery Jaguar Land Rover plant opening ceremony in Changshu, Jiangsu province, Oct 21, 2014. [Photo / Agencies]

LONDON - Jaguar Land Rover, a British luxury vehicle brand now owned by India's Tata Motors, announced Monday that it sold 462,678 vehicles in 2014, up by nine percent versus prior year, and registering its fifth successive year of growth in sales.

China's market were acting as the car marker's main engine for the so-called "solid sales performance".

Geographically, in the year of 2014, Jaguar Land Rover sold 122, 010 cars in China, up by 28 percent from 2013; 86,130 in Europe, up by three percent; 82,872 in Britain, up by seven percent; and 74,981 in North America, up by two percent.

The company said Land Rover recorded its best year with sales reaching 381,108, up by nine percent year-on-year, and Jaguar increased by six percent for the year with a retailing number of 81,570, figures also showed.

Andy Goss, Group Sales Operations Director of Jaguar Land Rover,

commented that:" With 12 significant new product actions planned for 2015 and the introduction of the new Jaguar XE and the Land Rover Discovery Sport, we anticipate retailing over half a million vehicles for the first time in the company's history."

On the same day, the car maker announced that it will create 1, 300 new jobs at its Solihull plant in the West Midlands, England, in order to build its first sports utility vehicle (SUV).

Currently, Jaguar Land Rover employs 30,500 people in Britain.

Previously, in 2014, the company opened its first ever overseas manufacturing plant, in China, as well as a new Engine Manufacturing Centre in the West Midlands.