Jaguar Land Rover sales fall 15% amid supply crunch, Middle East unrest

July 2 (Reuters) - Jaguar Land Rover retail sales fell 15.3% year-on-year to 80,000 units in the first quarter of fiscal year 2027 as it grapples with supply constraints and softening demand, parent India's Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles said on Thursday. Here are some more details:

• The British luxury carmaker sold 79,300 units wholesale in the first quarter, a 9.2% decline from a year earlier.

• A fire at a key component supplier temporarily squeezed supply during the reported quarter, the company said.

• Market disruptions linked to the Middle East conflict and the deliberate wind-down of older Jaguar models ahead of the Type 01 launch also weighed on volumes, it said.

• JLR's bestselling trio, its Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender models, accounted for 80.8% of total wholesale volumes in the quarter, up from 77.2% a year earlier.

• The company said at its investor day last month that it would prioritise growth in the U.S. as it seeks to counter weakness ‌in its traditional stronghold China.

• China was a major ​source of growth for ⁠JLR, but a combination of economic weakness and a cutthroat local industry has made it much harder for international companies to compete there.

• The company said it plans to cut $2.3 ⁠billion in ​costs over two years.

• Analysts at Ambit Capital flagged elevated marketing costs and a fragile recovery in China as key risks, but said JLR's turnaround from cash burn to operating break-even marked an encouraging step forward.

(Reporting by Abhinav Parmar in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)