British premium carmaker Jaguar Land Rover's China performance is recovering as the coronavirus outbreak is brought under control and the economy gets back to normal in the country.
The company said its sales in March were seven times the figure of February, when the pandemic was at its peak in China.
Richard Shore, president of Jaguar Land Rover China and Chery Jaguar Land Rover Integrated Marketing, Sales and Service, said the recovery surpassed his expectations.
"Our growth momentum continues in April and our sales are picking up," he said.
The carmaker's plant in Changshu, Jiangsu province, has restarted production, and all its dealerships have opened their doors.
Shore said the carmaker is optimistic about sales potential at least in the second quarter, although the pandemic's impact on the Chinese economy and in particular the auto market is still unclear.
He said a major reason of the performance lies in China's timely and effective efforts to combat and control the pandemic.
Within two months, the pandemic has been basically put under control and the economy is steering back to normal, which he called a phenomenal success.
The central and local authorities have promulgated favorable policies to stimulate car production and consumption, much to the delight of carmakers including Jaguar Land Rover, Shore said.
Another contributing factor is the effort the carmaker started last year to enhance its fundamental work, what JLR China Executive Director Pan Qing called "getting back to basics".
The efficiency of its sales andservice network has become essential. Dubbed Project Dragon, the plan is aimed at cutting costs, improving efficiency, enhancing customer satisfaction and building sustainable growth for the future.
By the end of 2019, JLR China had cut inventory at its dealers to 1.5 months, from 2.2 months at the end of 2018. The figures are better than the industry average.
The effort paid off and helped insulate dealers from the impact when the unexpected pandemic started to hit.
Shore took the helm of Integrated Marketing, Sales and Service in January, and pushed forward Pan's strategy in the company and launched the next phase of the project — "Project Dragon+".
"Our goal remains 'double growth', which means sustainable growth and win-win results with our dealer partners," Shore said.
"Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, we wouldn't like to give them too much pressure. Instead, we would like to ensure their profitability, and we believe that is the recipe for sustainable growth," he said.
Though just four months into his post, Shore has held two national meetings with JLR's dealers, one in January and the other in April, to set out a three-word development plan for the year.
He said the first is to "maximize", which is to make the most of the brands' momentum and new products to be launched this year.
In late March, the company held the online launch of the all new Discovery Sport, which is part of the 30th anniversary of the Discovery marque.
In the coming months, JLR will also hold celebratory activities for the luxury Ranger Rover family, the first model of which was launched 50 years ago.
It will launch the Defender this year as well, to mark the 70th anniversary of the signature model that has millions of fans around the world.
New Jaguar-branded models, including the F-Type, are around the corner as well, which will help further enrich the lineup of the company's models.
Shore said the second word is "perseverance", which he said is the core of the "Project Dragon+".
"We need to persevere in optimizing our sales strategies and procedures, because retail is detail," he said.
JLR's efforts in this aspect have produced fruitful results. Land Rover ranks second in terms of aftersales service, according to JD Power 2019 CSI.
Shore said the company will continue to improve dealerships' capabilities through training sessions so that they can better implement the "customer first" philosophy.
The third word in Shore's strategy is "confidence".
He said he hopes JLR's efforts and achievements can further boost dealers' confidence in profitability and consolidate customers' confidence in the company's products and service.
Shore said Project Dragon laid a solid foundation last year in many aspects ranging from dealer profitability to brand building.
During the pandemic, JLR focused its attention on joining hands with dealerships and helping tide them over the difficult days by coming up with digital showrooms and carefree purchases and services.
To help protect dealership staff in China, it mobilized global resources and coordinated the headquarters to send in over 100,000 face masks.
For the wider community, JLR China and Chery JLR made a donation 8 million yuan ($1.13 million).
Of it, 5 million yuan went to the Hubei Charity Federation for the procurement of urgently needed medical supplies, and 3 million yuan was donated to the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation for the prevention of future epidemics at primary and middle schools.
Shore said the pandemic disrupted the company's work in the first quarter, but its focus will not change.
"In fact, we have taken many measures and made preparations. We are confident that we can meet this year's target of Project Dragon+," he said.
記者：李福生
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