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Jaguar Land Rover is struggling with a saturated Chinese market as it tries to stabilise its struggling sales business, says Ralf Speth, chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover. In February, the business led to Jaguar Land Rover writing down $4 billion in assets.

The picture shows Chery Jaguar Land Rover production line

In an interview on wednesday, speth said demand for cars in the u.s., the world's largest auto market, had fallen annually for the first time in more than two decades and automakers were "fighting for sales." That makes it all the more important for Jaguar Land Rover to establish itself at the premium end of the market, he said.

"We want to do it in a quality business way," he said. "The market is going down, but last year the high-end market remained stable."

The company is overhauling its Chinese dealer network because of insufficient business growth in China's largest cities. February's sales slump pushed JLR owner Tata Motors to a record loss.

Speth said Wednesday that Tata would provide an update when it releases its results on Monday, but that there was no quick fix and that he had to be prepared to make sacrifices in order to boost sales.

"The dealer network doesn't change at the push of a button," he said during an FT conference in London. "We don't want to put cars on the market and then a lot of stock becomes less and less valuable." We don't run for running. We want profits, not just sales."

Jaguar Land Rover sales in China fell by more than a third in the nine months to December and continue to decline, falling 46% last month while the overall Chinese retail market contracted 17%. Jaguar Land Rover's (JLR) business in China has been hit by ongoing difficulties in reliability and reliability.

The company is to cut 5000 jobs as part of a £ 2.5bn revenue and expenditure plan. Because policies surrounding Brexit and UK restrictions on diesel car sales have also hurt demand.

Adding insult to injury, the company is reportedly being targeted for takeover by PSA Group. Speth said he had not talked to PSA president Carlos Tavares about any deal and could not confirm whether there were any negotiations between Tata and PSA.

He said: "Car companies are always talking about technology and things like that. "We're talking to everyone. I definitely can't speak for Tata. I am an ordinary employee of the Empire and therefore cannot make a statement."

trade war

Jaguar Land Rover is also streamlining its business policies in China to help compensate retailers and rolling out extensive on-site training programs to improve customer experience. Relations between china and the united states exacerbated the sales decline. He said he hoped "geopolitical issues between the United States and China can be resolved quickly."

Speth said Jaguar Land Rover's UK manufacturing base, including electric vehicles, could thrive in the UK. Measures to ensure economies of scale by partnering with big companies may not be worth taking if they mean giving up control over products and strategy, he says.

"Being small and flexible is also an opportunity for agility," he said. "You are free to execute all your strategies quickly."

extended reading

Jaguar Land Rover officially released its April sales figures. It is reported that in April this year, Jaguar Land Rover global sales of 39185 vehicles, a year-on-year decline of 13.3%. Among them, Jaguar's global sales volume was 11462 vehicles, down 13.7% year-on-year, while Land Rover's global sales volume was 27723 vehicles, down 13.1% year-on-year.

According to data released by Chery, a joint venture in China, sales of four Jaguar Land Rover models were 7340; sales in the same period last year were 12970, down 45.7% year-on-year; and from January to April this year, Jaguar Land Rover sold 28451 vehicles in China, compared with 50276 in the same period last year, down 43.4% year-on-year. It has become the region with the worst sales volume of Jaguar Land Rover in the world.

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