Jaguar starts XE production

Jaguar has commenced production of its first mid-size car for six years, and its first ever model at the Land Rover plant near Birmingham in the UK's West Midlands.

The all-new XE sedan will be the first Jaguar produced at the Solihill factory, alongside the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.

The belated replacement for the X-Type, production of which ceased at Jaguar's Halewood plant near Liverpool in late 2009, hits Australian showrooms in August.

However, Jaguar will not announce pricing until immediately prior to its local arrival, to ensure it is competitive with its three most direct German rivals — the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, BMW 3 Series and Audi A4.

"It is bloody competitive," said Jaguar Land Rover Australia managing director Matthew Wiesner of the hotly contested mid-size luxury car segment.

"You've got BMW 3 Series and Benz C-Class and Audi with A4 at each other at an extraordinary rate."

Wiesner would not comment on XE pricing given the competitive nature of the segment, in which the top-selling C-Class is priced from $60,900, the 3 Series starts from $53,600 and the A4 opens at $55,500.

While the new C-Class outsold all but the Australian-made Toyota Camry in the overall medium-car segment last month with 918 registrations (up 94 per cent month-on-month, to be 73 per cent year-to-date), other XE competitors will include Japanese mid-sizers in the Lexus IS and Infiniti Q50.

"We haven't and we won't announce anything to do with pricing because we're already up to about plan D and that's got nothing to do with us, it's all about them out-positioning each other," he said.

"Benz have come in with that C-Class and they've done an outstanding job. When you look at their numbers it's extraordinary. The value for money in that segment is just outstanding.

"You look at the product on offer, the spec that is being offered from a base car perspective at those price points it's just an outstanding segment of value, so we're probably going to launch our newest Jaguar into the toughest segment in the country.

"Hence we're going to wait from a pricing point of view and keep that pretty close to our chest until we get to the last minute."

Wiesner said the XE will compete strongly on price, equipment and overall value, as well as targeting driving dynamics in the same way BMW does with its 3 Series.

"We're looking forward to it and it's an important car for the brand," he said.

"It's a gorgeous car. Everybody who's touches it and the guys who've driven prototypes are absolutely looking forward to it because it does a lot about bringing so many more people into that Jaguar space that would never have been there based on our offerings today.

"One of the key points that we and the UK are now making about what Jaguar stands for is that Jaguar is very much a driver's car.

"XE portrays that in basically every fashion. I think we're now clear on what jaguar is within the group. From all account from a driving perspective, from a styling perspective, we've certainly hit those points pretty well. It's very much [like] BMW with the 3 Series – that's what they drove the 3 Series around.

"We're keen to get stuck in there and throw a spanner in the works with those who like to drive a proper sports sedan – that's what XE is all about."

Wiesner made it clear that customers of the three top-selling German sedans will be the XE's most direct target in the premium mid-size segment, despite the fact Alfa is also expected to highlight handling dynamics and design to promote its new rear-drive Giulia medium sedan.

"As far as we're concerned everybody who's in that segment is an opportunity, but the core group is the three German brands," he said.

"There are a lot of people in there who've owned three or four 3 Series or C-Class or whatever and there've been some good offerings over the years, but I know some people who are looking forward to having a choice outside of what's ultimately a German dominated segment.

"There will also be a bit of goodwill that will also come through around the British brand."

The first Jaguar to be based on an all-new aluminium-intensive rear/all-wheel drive chassis architecture will be powered by a range of new four-cylinder 2.0-litre 'Ingenium' petrol and diesel engines, plus Jaguar's supercharged 3.0-litre V6.

The same platform will also underpin Jaguar's first 'crossover', the F-PACE, which arrives here in mid-2016.

Before then, Jaguar Australia will in May launch manual and all-wheel drive versions of the F-TYPE, which has effectively replaced the XK, followed by a facelifted version of its flagship XJ limousine in the fourth quarter of this year and its second-generation XF large sedan in the first quarter of next year.

While a wagon version of the new XF is unlikely for Australia, both estate and coupe versions of the XE sedan are certain for Australia from later next year and there's also the prospect of Jaguar's first small car.

What's coming from Jaguar: