>TATA MOTORS: JLR’s US retail volume up 32% y-y in Aug-12

JLR’s retail sales volume in the US increased by 32% y-y in Aug-12.
After four months of weak growth (~7% y-y avg growth), volumes in Aug- 12 were much improved, in our view. We note that Aug-12 had 1 more selling day as compared to Aug-11, and we estimate that this benefitted growth by around 4%. [Note that August retail sales data include 700 units (621 units in July-12) of Evoque. Sales of older models (ex- Evoque) were up by around 12%.]

We are building in flat volumes for models ex-Evoque in the US for JLR in FY13F, compared to around a 6% y-y decline in volumes thus far (FYTD: Apr-Aug).

In Aug-12, based on data from AutoData Corp, Audi sales were up 13% y-y, BMW sales declined 19% y-y and Mercedes sales rose 12% y-y. Total industry US market sales including all vehicle types increased by
20% y-y.

The weighted-average marketing and promotional spend for JLR increased by 4% m-m in August; incentives declined by 2% m-m at Jaguar and increased by 20% m-m at Land Rover.

To read report in detail: TATA MOTORS
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