Jaguar Land Rover has reported record retail sales of 604,009 vehicles – the figure includes sales from JLR’s China joint venture – in the financial year to the end of March 2017.

That’s up 16 per cent compared to last year, exceeding 600,000 for the first time in the company’s history. Retail sales for the Fourth Quarter were 179,509 vehicles, up 13 per cent on the same quarter a year ago, and March sales reached 90,838 units, up 21 per cent on March 2016.

Retail sales for the full financial year were up year-on-year in China (32 per cent), North America (24 per cent), the UK (16 per cent) and Europe (13 per cent), whilst sales in other Overseas markets were down 6%. For the month of March, retail sales were up in Europe (21 per cent), North America (21 per cent), China (21 per cent) and Overseas markets (6 per cent) compared to March 2016. In the UK, March sales were up 26.5 per cent to a record 31,778 vehicles.

Andy Goss, Jaguar Land Rover Group Sales Operations Director said: “These numbers set the seal on Jaguar Land Rover’s seventh successive year of sales growth, by breaking through the 600,000 barrier. We continue to make encouraging gains in key markets such as China and North America, as well as seeing sustained customer demand for the Jaguar F-PACE, Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport.

“The last 12 months have seen the launch of three completely new product lines, and successful growth across many of our existing products. Jaguar sales are still increasing strongly and Jaguar is now Europe’s fastest-growing car brand.”

Retail sales for Jaguar were a record 172,848 vehicles in the financial year, up 83 per cent compared to the prior year primarily driven by the successful introduction of the F-PACE and solid sales of the XE and XF. Jaguar retails in the Fourth Quarter were 53,972 vehicles, up 81 per cent on the same quarter last year, and 27,820 units in the month of March, up 83 per cent compared to March 2016.

Land Rover retailed 431,161 vehicles this financial year, up 1 per cent compared to last year, as continuing strong sales of the Discovery Sport, Evoque and Range Rover Sport were offset by the run-out of Defender and Discovery. Retail sales for Land Rover for the Fourth Quarter were 125,537 units, down 3 per cent on quarter four last year, and retails in March were 63,018 vehicles, up 5 per cent compared to March 2016.

Last month Land Rover launched the Velar, a new addition to the Range Rover family, positioned between Evoque and Range Rover Sport.