Land Rover achieved its best sales performance during 2005 in the company’s history.
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The SUV specialist, part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group (PAG), sold 185,120 vehicles around the world, a year-on-year increase of 14% on the previous year.
The USA saw sales surge by 30% in a year in which European brand volume was off 0.2% overall, according to WardsAuto.com data.
In the UK, it was another record year for the brand with sales of 48,357 units (43,769 [+5.72%] passenger vehicle units and 4,588 [-20.17%] commercial vehicles, according to Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders data). This was the sixth year of growth for Land Rover.
Emerging markets like China and Russia saw sales increase 105% and 67% respectively.
Land Rover said December’s cold snap across the UK sent buyers into its showrooms, giving an end of year boost to sales which were 3% higher than the previous year and set a record for the fifth year in a row.
The company added that growth last year was driven by “an exceptionally strong model line up”. During the year, the newly-launched Range Rover Sport, the company’s fifth nameplate, experienced a “sensational debut” with 30,356 units sold world-wide in six months.
The Discovery 3 (LR3 in the US), redesigned for the 2005 model year, saw sales climb “steadily” to 53,558. In the US, a record year ended on a record high, with the brand’s best December sales performance.
Land Rover also introduced major changes to the flagship Range Rover line during 2005, replacing BMW-sourced petrol engines with variants of Jaguar powerplants.
Land Rover’s managing director Matthew Taylor said in a statement: “This fantastic achievement is a reflection of a strong, new model line up and is a reward for significant investment and hard work.
“We said 2005 would be the year of opportunity and the United States would be an increasingly important market for Land Rover. We set out to seize success and grabbed it with both hands. We now need to maintain that momentum.”
Graeme Roberts
