Carmaker Jaguar Land Rover reports record levels of orders for its vehicles but sees sales fall as chip shortages continue to hit production. Tony McDonough reports

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) continues to be frustrated by the global shortage of semiconductor chips with demand at record levels but actual sales down.

JLR employs around 3,700 people at Halewood in Merseyside assembling the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque.On Thursday it revealed sales figures for the three months to June 30.

Despite a record order book, sales continue to be constrained by the global chip shortage. This is compounded by the run out of the prior model Range Rover Sport, with deliveries just starting. The company is also hampered by the impact of COVID lockdowns in China.

Overall the company sold 78,825 vehicles during three-months. This was 37% down on the same period in 2021. Land Rover’s sales came in at 63,618, 48% down on a year ago. Sales of Jaguar models were down 33% to 15,207. There was little change in sales compared to the previous quarter.

JLR has been dogged by the computer chip shortage since 2020. At times it had led to production shutdowns at Halewood and at its two factories in the West Midlands. In May the company reported a pre-tax loss of £412m for the full year to March 31, 2022. It also took a £43m hit from the loss of sales in Russia.

In its latest statement JLR said: “The company continues to see strong demand for its products, with global retail orders again setting new records in the quarter. As of June 30 the total order book has grown to almost 200,000 units, up around 32,000 orders from March 31.

“Demand for the New Range Rover, New Range Rover Sport and Defender are particularly strong with more than 62,000, 20,000 and 46,000 orders respectively.”