Jaguar Land Rover achieved a solid sales performance in 2014, selling 462,678 vehicles — up 9% compared to 2013. This is the company’s fifth successive year of growth in sales and its strongest full-year performance in nearly a decade.

Group sales operations director Andy Goss said: “Jaguar Land Rover has once again out-performed prior-year performance, with sales up across all of our key regions. Moreover, we aim to make 2015 even better, with 12 significant new product actions planned for the year, plus the introduction of the new Jaguar XE and the Land Rover Discovery Sport.”

Land Rover had its best ever year with sales of 381,108 vehicles, up 9% year on year. The company sold more Range Rovers, Range Rover Sports and Range Rover Evoques in 2014 than ever before; and the Jaguar F-Type, which has just completed its first full year of sales, continues to raise brand awareness around the world.

Furthermore, Jaguar Land Rover collected over 100 international awards and honours in 2014 for its products and for other areas of the business. Heading the list is a prestigious 2014 Queen’s Award that recognised its “outstanding overseas sales growth over the last three years”.

It has also been a historic year for manufacturing, with the business expanding from three plants to five. Jaguar Land Rover opened its first ever overseas manufacturing plant in China, as well as a new engine manufacturing centre in the West Midlands. Furthermore, it has announced plans to create 1,300 new jobs as it continues to accelerate its use of aluminium and lightweight technologies. The news follows confirmation that the company will add a further new Jaguar model to its portfolio — the Jaguar F-Pace cross-over.

To support the introduction of its new aluminium and lightweight technologies, Jaguar Land Rover has already invested £1.5 billion.

The company’s head-count has increased to 32,000 — 10,000 more than just four years ago. Applications for the 1,300 new jobs are now being accepted.