JLR sales rise as UK demand offsets China and the Middle East

Jaguar Land Rover has reported a strong rise in the number of vehicles it delivered to dealers in the three months to the end of September, as growth in the UK and other markets offset difficult conditions in China and the Middle East.

Wholesale volumes, the vehicles JLR supplies to its dealers, rose by 24.5 per cent to 82,400, compared with 66,165 in the same quarter last year.

Retail sales, vehicles sold to customers, were 79,000, down from 85,371 a year earlier.

Recovery from cyber attack

JLR said the big rise in wholesale volumes reflected its recovery from the cyber attack last year, which halted production at its factories for several weeks in the autumn of 2025 and caused disruption to many suppliers in the region.

The UK leads the way

Sales were strongest in the UK, where wholesale volumes rose to 21,000 from 12,327 a year earlier, and retail sales rose to 18,500 from 14,171.

In North America, wholesale volumes rose to 27,100 from 17,879, and in Europe to 13,200 from 10,491.

China and the Middle East

In China, wholesale volumes fell to 6,100 from 11,370. JLR said retail sales in China were largely affected by the end in June 2026 of production of vehicles made locally by its Chinese joint venture.

In the Middle East and North Africa, JLR said ongoing disruption had affected wholesale volumes compared with the previous quarter, but that retail sales showed underlying demand remained strong.

Range Rover and Defender

JLR's most profitable models, the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender, made up 77.6 per cent of wholesale volumes, up from 76.7 per cent a year ago. Range Rover wholesale volumes reached 44,900, and Defender volumes rose to 29,500 from 21,300.

The electric future

JLR is in the middle of a major transformation. Jaguar is being relaunched as an all-electric luxury brand, and JLR says each of its brands will have a fully electric model by the end of the decade.

Job cuts

In September, JLR announced plans to cut 4,000 jobs. Birmingham City Council called on the Government to do what it could to protect jobs in the region, where JLR and its suppliers employ tens of thousands of people.

JLR and Birmingham

JLR has deep roots in and around Birmingham. Its Castle Bromwich site in the north east of the city built Jaguars for decades, and its engine plant near Wolverhampton, design and engineering centres in Warwickshire and Solihull factory are major employers. Hundreds of local suppliers depend on its orders.

What comes next

JLR will publish its full financial results for the quarter in November. JLR is owned by Tata Motors, part of India's Tata Group.

Wholesale and retail

Car makers report two different measures of sales. Wholesale figures count vehicles delivered to dealers, which reflects how many cars a company has made and shipped. Retail figures count vehicles sold to customers, which is a better guide to underlying demand. The two can differ, especially when a company is rebuilding dealer stock after disruption, as JLR has been after last year's cyber attack.

The cyber attack

The attack in late August 2025 forced JLR to shut down its computer systems and stop production at its plants in the UK and abroad. It was one of the most damaging cyber incidents in British industrial history, and the Government provided a loan guarantee of 1.5 billion pounds to help JLR and its suppliers through the disruption. Many small firms in the supply chain around Birmingham were left without orders for weeks.