Jaguar Land Rover's 2016 car sales at staggering 583,313, targets 1 million vehicle production a year

Tata-owned Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) sold a record 583,312 cars in 2016 as the firm continues its rapid expansion with the aim of building 1 million vehicles a year at the turn of the decade. 

Sales figures went up 20 percent as compared to the previous year, although sales growth slowed to 12 percent year-on-year in December, the carmaker said. 

The automaker, which spent years in the doldrums before being bought by India's Tata in 2008, has since invested heavily in new models and expanded production with plants in China and Brazil and construction of a new site in Slovakia under way. 

Sales of luxury Jaguar models rose 77 percent to 148,730 units in 2016 due to strong demand for a range of new high-end products including the F-PACE, the brand's first off-roader which was launched last year.  Europe was the carmaker's biggest overall market, accounting for almost a quarter of total demand.