Jaguar increases German sales

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 13

Jaguar increases German sales

West Germany, commonly regarded as one of the most car-conscious countries in the world, bought more British Jaguars than ever before last year. Jaguar sales increased 21.8 per cent over the previous year. The luxury segment of the West German car market represents only 2 per cent of annual new car sales, nevertheless it is a highly regarded category and, in fact, is the second-biggest in the world, the largest being that of the United States. Jaguar is small in volume terms, compared with Mercedes Benz and BMW, sales being made to small independent businesses and professional people rather than to large companies.

In Britain 65 per cent of Jaguar sales are to company fleets and most others are business or company related. Although resale value for Jaguar and Daimler cars has risen considerably in West Germany in recent years and there are a lot of people who could afford a Jaguar, West Germans tend to think that they would be over-reaching themselves if they owned one of the British cars because they regard them in the same light as a Rolls-Royce or a Ferrari.

Nevertheless, Jaguar is sanguine about its West German future and plans to double its exports within the next decade. That means that Jaguar should be selling about 5000 cars a year by 1998. That would be about 10 per cent of the German luxury car market.