Jaguar Land Rover lowers mainland sales target amid demand slump

Jaguar Land Rover, the U.K. luxury-car unit of Tata Motors Ltd., cut its sales targets and prices in China amid slowing demand in the world’s largest auto market. Tata Motors’ stock fell.
The automaker has also adjusted output to stabilize retail prices and help dealers in China, Jaguar Land Rover said in an e-mailed response to questions. The starting price of its China-produced Evoque sport-utility vehicle was cut by 50,000 yuan (USD8,000) to 398,000 yuan from July 1, according to the company, which didn’t give details of the new sales targets and supply cuts.
The steps come as China’s state-backed auto association projected a slower pace of industrywide expansion and BMW AG’s Chinese joint venture partner issued a profit warning. Jaguar Land Rover, which gets about a quarter of its sales from China, said it’s adjusting supply to dealers to ease inventory pressure, after deliveries there slumped 23 percent this year through May.
“Even though we have faced sales performance challenges in the first six months of 2015, we are making efforts to enter a new sustainable phase,” Jaguar Land Rover said in the e-mail. “We are working with our dealer partners to jointly overcome challenges.”
Sales are declining despite the opening of its first Chinese plant in October, which enables the automaker to produce vehicles locally and avoid import duties.
Shares of Tata Motors fell as much as 5.3 percent in Mumbai trading yesterday, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was little changed. The shares were trading at 388.90 rupees, down 3.3 percent, as of 2:49 p.m., headed for their lowest level since March 2014. Bloomberg