Jaguar searches for "relevance"

Even before they generate much-needed sales for Jaguar in Australia, the forthcoming XE compact sedan and F-PACE crossover are expected to deliver the brand "relevance" against the three German heavyweights that dominate the luxury and prestige market segments.

The first variants of the all-new XE go on-sale in Australia in August,while the F-Pace – Jaguar's first crossover/SUV – should reach here in the first half of 2016.

The importance of these two vehicles for Jaguar are underscored by its current sales versus Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, which sold 31,895, 22,722 and 19,227 vehicles respectively in 2014, and have been on an almost constant upward progression for years as they have expanded their line-ups and prestige and luxury sales have boomed.

Jaguar, which relies on the XF, XJ, XK and the recently added F-TYPE, sold 1167 cars in 2014 according to VFACTS, only slightly up on the 1010 cars it sold in 2009. The Tata-owned British brand not only trails the three Germans on 2014 figures, but also Lexus (7000) and Volvo (4693).

"Jaguar as a brand really only competed in around 9000 vehicle buyers a year," new Jaguar Land Rover Australia managing director Matthew Wiesner told motoring.com.au. "What XE does is lift that to 40,000. So we go from relative insignificance or very niche player to one that starts to have some decent substance to it.

"Once we do that and then add other things that are coming – and especially when we start heading into the crossover space – then Jaguar goes from being a very niche product to something that has very real presence in that whole premium sports car luxury space.

"That's something the brand has never had and the others have had for a long time."

JLRA is preparing for the arrival of the XE and F-PACE, as well as manual and AWD F-TYPEs, the second generation XF and an updated XJ, as well as a slew of new Land Rover models with a dramatic overhaul and expansion of its dealer network.

Wiesner is clear the XE is expected to tempt more customers into all those new showrooms. Its pricing is expected to start around a well-specified $60,000, lowering the brand's entry point by at least $15,000 (the cheapest sub-$70,000 XFs were discontinued in January) and plonking it into the heart of the booming compact luxury battle against the C-class, 3 Series and A4.

"XE has a couple of tasks; one is to sell a lot of cars hopefully and make money, the typical commercial things that a product must do," said Wiesner. "But one of the biggest jobs XE has is about raising the level of noise around the Jaguar and dialling all those core attributes around the Jaguar brand and creating an ability for people to reach and get into the Jaguar brand.

"Previously, with F-TYPEs and XJs and XFs and so on, it was too far away from those [people], so relevance is so important and this car starts the whole process.

"When you look at the evolution of the [compact luxury] segment it's amazing how much more mainstream it has become. And that's a result of economics, affordability, interest rate cuts and ... how people are moving from what we thought of as volume segments five years ago."

Wiesner said it was vital the XE, the F-PACE and other forthcoming new Jaguar models delivered successfully on the brand's intention of being a 'driver's car', an ethos underscored by the decision to lead its new generation of vehicles with the F-TYPE sports car.

"The relationship with the F-TYPE is important," he confirmed. "What these people [potential buyers] will see from a communications point of view is this has an absolute connection to what F-Type represents.

"So therefore the pressure is on the guys in engineering and design to make sure the relationship continues through the range; whether it's an XE, whether it's the new XF, F-PACE or whatever. If F-TYPE is the embryo of what Jaguar represents in the future then all these things must have an element of what that thing [F-TYPE] says.

"Then I think we are going to get a wow factor plus some substance around the product and design and all the other things we are doing as JLR. All of a sudden we add some serious momentum to this and it's going to be exciting stuff."

However, Wiesner would not be drawn on just what sales numbers this excitement would generate for Jaguar in Australia going forward, except to admit an expectation it would eventually account for around 30 per cent of combined sales with Land Rover.

With the SUV specialist selling a record 10,106 vehicles here in 2014 and probably headed toward 15,000, then 5000 sales per annum for Jaguar in the next few years might be a reasonable guess at a target.