JLR South Africa and sub-Sahara Africa MD Kevin Flynn
Photo by: Duane Daws
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has seen 69% sales growth in South Africa over the three-year period to the end of 2012, and 53% growth in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, says JLR South Africa and sub-Sahara Africa MD Kevin Flynn.
“We have seen tremendous growth.”
JLR South Africa and sub-Sahara Africa aims to sell 12 000 vehicles in 2013.
The local company is a 100% subsidiary of the British brands, which are owned by Indian conglomerate Tata.
Flynn says JLR South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa has consolidated the back functions on the Jaguar and Land Rover brands to “give us economy of scale at the back of the business”.
This means JLR uses one parts warehouse, for example, while it also shares some dealerships.
“We are now busy pulling together the businesses, and should be done in all the markets by 2015,” says Flynn.
He notes that both brands are not present in all of the sub-Saharan countries, as many of the countries do not have the road infrastructure required by the Jaguar premium brand.
“Land Rover is our best seller, at around 80% of sales. It is our quest to grow Jaguar sales,” adds Flynn. “We would like to see a 60-40 split in favour of Land Rover.”
He believes the development of a new Jaguar model, which will serve as the brand’s entry model, will attract a number of new customers to the marquee.
The new model, currently being engineered, will be a compact sports sedan, and will compete with the likes of the BMW 3 Series.
“We are not chasing volume,” emphasises Flynn. “We want to be profitable company.”
Looking ahead, he says JLR is in a situation where demand globally is such that it outstrips supply. This is bad news for South Africa, as “the exchange rate is not our friend”.
“This means there may be advantages in rather selling our vehicles in other markets than here, while we wait for the exchange rate to ease.”
As for rumours surfacing every now and then around a possible South African plant, Flynn says JLR has “made it abundantly clear” that it wants to move from being a UK company, to a global company.
“This means we need a more balanced global manufacturing footprint, and we have a number of studies under way on how to become a global player. We are already producing cars in India and building a factory in China.”
JLR unveiled the all-new Range Rover Sport at the recent Johannesburg International Motor Show, while it also introduced the brand-new XJR, as well as the upgraded nine-speed Range Rover Evoque.