UK Land Rover sales in September are expected to be close to 10,000 units, the highest ever recorded in a month and easily overtaking the 9,328 registrations in the previous best September 2005.
With year-to-date registrations in the UK and globally hitting new targets the company is on course for a record profit for parent Ford, which has been considering the 4x4 company’s sale along with Jaguar. The likelihood of a sale will be confirmed by the end of the year.
Whatever happens, Land Rover is brimming with confidence on the back of soaring sales of its Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Freelander2, Discovery and Defender series. The introduction of state-of-art diesels has powered the recovery and spread the sales to new markets around the world.
“We had record sales last year and the year before that and our sales this year are already a record. It is just fantastic for us," said LR director of communications Simon Warr.
Sales are currently 13% up after eight months and after three weeks of 57-plate sales they are still climbing in the UK. Indications, which have still to be confirmed, suggest the September total will pass the previous best by a good few thousand registrations.
LR marketing director Andy Griffiths added, “The UK is a very important market to us but globally we have seen growth in China, Russia and expansion in Europe and the USA. We are currently on track to sell more vehicles than we ever have."
He said that the overall market was still very strong and he expected the forecasts for the rest of the year to hold up.
Range Rover sales are 10pc up and Freelander2 is 20pc above the Freelander1 sales of 2006 in the UK and there is the possibility of breaking the 50,000 registrations by the end of the year in Britain.
Latest model in the line-up is the Freelander2 diesel automatic, which joins the manual versions including the 3.2 six-cylinder petrol. Diesels now account for 95pc of Freelander2 sales.
Freelander2 prices go from just under £21,000 to about £34,000 with the new diesel auto costing £22,330. A new £1,850 Premium pack is now available for the Freelander 2 – which has sold 10,983 units so far this year in the UK.