Mumbai, Jan 10 (IANS): Tata Motors' UK-based subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Friday reported a 6 per cent decline in retail sales last year as compared to 2018. The luxury car maker, however, logged a 1.3 per cent increase in retail sales for December 2019 over the previous year.

JLR's retail sales stood at 557,706, down 5.9 per cent compared to 2018 owing to "challenging industry conditions across markets". Its sales were down 1.7 per cent in UK, 13.5 per cent in China, 4.9 per cent in Europe and 14.2 per cent in overseas regions, Tata Motors said in a regulatory filing.

The company said that the double-digit sales growth in China over the last six months has been encouraging, as has been the record sales achieved in North America, up 1.8 per cent.

"Following a record 2018, Jaguar sales were down in 2019. In increasingly challenging market conditions, we chose not to weaken the iconic Jaguar brand through chasing volume at any cost," said Felix Brautigam, its Chief Commercial Officer.

For the month of December, Jaguar Land Rover said its retail sales were boosted by China, up 26.3 per cent year-on-year but offset by lower sales in North America and Europe. On a quarterly basis, JLR'S retail sales were 141,222, down 2.3 per cent year-on-year.

Tata Motors closed 1.17 per cent higher at Rs 194.25 a share on the NSE.