Sales of the British luxury automobile brand Land Rover for 2012, so far, have grown by 120 per cent in the Caribbean, helping the UK manufacturer to secure 42 per cent of the world market in this segment, said Mauro Frateschi, Jaguar/Land Rover’s area sales manager for Latin America and the Caribbean.

He revealed the figures at Saturday’s launch of the new Jaguar/Land Rover showroom, constructed by ANSA Automotive, a division of the ANSA McAL group, on Charles and Melbourne Streets in Port-of-Spain. “In 2012, Land Rover grew 25 per cent globally and in the overseas region, which T&T is part of the brand grew 43 per cent and only in the Caribbean region, the brand grew 120 per cent.

“These are really great numbers. In terms of Jaguar, it grew 12 per cent globally, driven by markets such as Russia, China South America and I do believe we have a lot of opportunities to grow especially here in T&T,” he said. The Jaguar and Land Rover brands are distributed exclusively in T&T by the ANSA Automotive.

Ray Sumairsingh, sector head for automotive at the ANSA McAL group, said over the past few years the company had sold 300 units of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands in T&T, a figure he expected would grow significantly in the coming years. Frateschi said Jaguar/Land Rover planned to invest £5 billion over five years in new products and technology and distribution with the aim of increasing the production capacity in the United Kingdom.

Despite the slump in the world economy, however, he said Land Rover was able to create 1,000 new jobs and that a direct result of its high level of investment, the company had the best cars in the segment and the best cars in the category. Steve Rapley, regional manager for Jaguar/Land Rover, who is based in Barbados said the company continues to work closely with ANSA Automotive to ensure customers got the service they deserve.

He announced a new partnership with ANSA Automotive with the construction of an aluminium body repair shop. This is vital to ensure that future models such as the new Range Rover and many more models to follow are fully supported in both sales and after sales,” Rapley said.