Compared to its direct rivals in the luxury segment, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) was late to enter India. That said, it has been gaining steady traction on our shores and now has a fair share of the market it caters to. Over the course of last calendar year, the Tata-owned British carmaker recorded a growth of more than 16 per cent. It sold a total of 4,596 units from January to December 2018. Over the same period in 2017, the carmaker closed the register with 3,954 sales.

Here’s what Rohit Suri, who is the president and managing director at JLR India Ltd., said in an official release:

“The auto industry faced strong headwinds in 2018, especially in the second half with tight liquidity conditions, increased upfront insurance costs and increased lending rates. Despite that, the growth of Jaguar Land Rover in India has been very encouraging for us and we continue to focus on strong product launches and an ever-improving customer experience in 2019 for the two iconic brands, Jaguar and Land Rover.”

JLR’s growth in India in 2018 was spearheaded by models like the Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque from the Land Rover family, and F-Pace, XE and XF from Jaguar’s stable. The company claims that over half of all the sales in 2018 were driven by SUVs. As promised, JLR India had a bunch of product launches last year, including the 2.0-litre and SVR versions of the F-Type, XJ50 and 2019 models of the F-Pace, Range Rover, Discovery Sport and the Range Rover Sport.

2018 also saw JLR India upgrading the InControl Package in its models with more connectivity features. The year also brought about the announcement from the British marque about pumping more money in its Pune-based facility to make engines locally.