Jaguar Land Rover has hailed the impact of its Halewood-produced Evoque model as it reported a fifth consecutive year of growth with global sales up by 9 per cent.
China was the driver behind growth in 2014, with a 28 per cent surge compared to the previous year. Sales in the UK also increased by 7 per cent to 82,872.
"Jaguar Land Rover has once again outperformed prior year performance, with retails up across all of our key regions," said group sales operations director Andy Goss.
"With 12 significant new product actions planned for 2015 and the introduction of the new Jaguar XE and the Land Rover Discovery Sport, we anticipate retailing over half a million vehicles for the first time in the company’s history."
It was also revealed that Land Rover had enjoyed its "best ever year" with the company selling more Range Rovers, Range Rover Sports and Range Rover Evoques during the period than ever before. Sales reached 381,108, a growth of 9 per cent year-on-year.
Jaguar sales were also up by 6 per cent, the strongest in a decade, supported by sales of the XF-Type.
Goss added: "2014 has been a year of significant achievements for Jaguar Land Rover, recognised by more than 100 international awards. We aim to make 2015 even better, by creating ever more exciting cars that deliver great customer experiences."