Following Land Rover’s best-ever 2005 results, the company has announced that 2006 has got off to an equally good start with March sales witnessing the best-ever single month's performance in the company’s history on a global and Middle East level.
This also marked the best-ever quarter with global sales up 23% and Middle East sales almost doubling over 2005. 86% of the Middle East success was attributed to the Range Rover Sport model, which is now the company’s best-selling model with nearly 15,000 units sold worldwide this year so far. Positioned as a dynamic Sports Tourer that fits between the flagship Range Rover and luxury family SUV LR3 models, it is now available in two powerful engine variants, a Supercharged (4.4 litre V8) version and Naturally Aspirated (4.2 litre V8).
During March, Land Rover sold 23,453 vehicles globally, a 23% rise on the previous year while Middle East sales increased 84%. Other markets to contribute to this worldwide success were:
• North America – up 39%
• China – up 619%
• Russia up 51%
• Sub Sahara Africa up 93%
• Argentina up 30%
Andy Gawthorpe, Land Rover's Managing Director for the Middle East, said, "Our new models that reflect our premium strategy are proving to be winners. These fantastic sales figures demonstrate that, more than ever, customers want the breadth of capability that only a Land Rover can provide."
“Land Rover is able to offer a unique combination of qualities and capabilities in an unparalleled range of vehicles that clearly deliver what customers want. We have forecast a 40% sales growth across the region for 2006, at this rate, we hope to exceed this." added Gawthorpe.
The Land Rover portfolio consists of five distinct products: The Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, LR3, Freelander and Defender. The product portfolio has just been extended with the introduction of new engine variants to both the Range Rover Sport and LR3 models.
