Former Ford Subsidiaries Post Modest Gains in 2012

Three former Ford luxury-vehicle subsidiaries turned in mixed performances in 2012, with Land Rover and Volvo posting U.S. full-year sales increases and Jaguar sliding vs. 2011.

Land Rover, which Ford purchased in 2000 for its Premier Automotive Group stable of luxury brands and sold in 2008 to Indian conglomerate Tata, posted the best performance of the trio, recording a 14.6% gain to 43,664 units, according to WardsAuto data.

The Land Rover LR2 and Range Rover Sport tallied the largest gains for the SUV maker, with year-over-year sales increases of 12.0% and 7.5%, respectively.

The compact Range Rover Evoque, which bowed in September 2011, was the top-volume model with 8,901 deliveries last year.

Only the flagship Range Rover posted a decline, down 19.6% to 7,843 units

Land Rover finished 2012 with a 0.3% of the U.S. light-vehicle market, even with 2011.

Volvo eked out a 1.3% sales increase in 2012 to 68,117 vehicles. The Swedish auto maker, which Ford purchased in 1999 and sold to China’s Geely in 2009, had only two models post gains last year, the S60 sports sedan and XC60 cross/utility vehicle, with sales up 9.7% and 48.0%, respectively.

The two were responsible for the bulk of Volvo’s 2012 volume as well, with the S60 accounting for 23,356 deliveries and the XC60 19,139.

Sales of the recently discontinued Volvo C30 fell 18.5% to 2,827, while deliveries of the C70 convertible and flagship S80 dropped 10.3% and 30.7%, respectively.

Volvo exited 2012 with a 0.5% share, unchanged from 2011.

Jaguar, the British luxury sports car maker purchased by Ford in 1989 and sold in 2008 to Tata, saw sales slip 2.2% to 12,011 in 2012.

Only the XF sports sedan posted an increase, with volume rising 4.2% to 5,526. Deliveries of the Jaguar XJ sedan and XK coupe and convertible fell 7.3% and 6.0%, respectively.

The auto maker’s U.S. market share remained flat, at 0.1% in 2012.

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