Jaguar Land Rover appears to have discovered how to sell to business customers, after posting record sales in the fleet market in the first quarter of 2016.
The UK premium brand posted fleet growth of 84% compared to the first three months of 2015, with models such as the Jaguar XE and Range Rover Evoque leading the surge.
Jaguar fleet sales mushroomed by 194% in the period, while Land Rover saw a 53% increase. The Evoque, pictured above, was the top seller for fleet customers compared to its premium rivals, while one in three fleet vehicles sold in sectors competed in by Land Rover was made by the brand.
JLR has struggled to make significant inroads into the fleet market in past years, but has stated its intention to increase such sales to 25% of the company’s total volume by 2020.
Key to this growth is the introduction of business market friendly models such as the XE, XF, Evoque and Discovery Sport. The two Jaguars can offer models with CO2 emissions levels down to 99g/km, making them far more attractive to company car drivers.
Speaking at a fleet and business briefing held at JLR’s expanding Ingenium engine plant near Wolverhampton, Jaguar Land Rover UK MD Jeremy Hicks describes the fleet and business performance as a fantastic result that proves the company has an effective formula in place.
“We have desirable and sector-appropriate cars, efficient Ingenium engines and class leading total cost of ownership – together, these factors deliver a compelling proposition for Fleet Managers to add Jaguar Land Rover to their fleet lists,” Hicks says.
“With this formula in mind, and with an ever expanding range of stunning Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles on the horizon, I’m confident that there’s plenty more fleet growth to come,” he adds.
Hicks’ views are backed by JLR’s fleet and business manager Jon Wackett, who says that the company has disrupted a market that has been traditionally dominated by three or four brands “by introducing extremely desirable cars that represent real-world value for money.
“We are strategically aiming to balance volume of sales against maintaining strong residual values which is a core buying decision for our existing and future customers,” Wackett says.
JLR is confident that 2016 will continue the strong growth, on the back of a full year of Ingenium-powered XE and XF sales, and the arrival of both the Evoque Convertible and the F-Pace crossover.
The F-Pace has already become the best-selling Jaguar in the company’s history, and one-in-six of these sales is predicted to go to the fleet sector. JLR predicts that its fleet sales in 2016 will grow by 50% compared with 2015, and continue double-digit growth through to 2020.
