The luxury car brand, Jaguar owned by Tata Motors is planning on developing a sedan in the entry level segment as well as a hybrid supercar that will compete against BMW’s 3 series vehicles.
The new models are of part of the company plans of investing around $2.5bn per annum for product development at their Land Rover and Jaguar brands over a period of five years. The amount will include either 40 upgrades or new vehicles. The company based in Mumbai, is looking forward to the luxury British brands that is purchased back in 2008for driving its international ambitions and growth, as its Nano car’s sales fall. Meanwhile, Land Rover has been aiming for record sales on their compact Evoque, whereas Jaguar aims for reversing the decreasing demand by rounding out their product offering.
The small car Nano saw its sales drop by as much as 48% since the last two months, as demand tool a back seat over higher costs of borrowing in the brand’s dominant market in India. Meanwhile, the Jaguar Land Rover brand that is based in England, accounted for 57% of the company’s revenue in the previous fiscal, an increase of 53% compared to a year ago. This division’s profit before tax also increased 20 fold in the fiscal to around 1.12bn pounds.
According to reports, the company’s CEO, Carl-Peter Forster, was quoted as saying that the division of Jaguar Land Rover definitely contributes to above 50% of the company’s profit, so it was clearly quite important for the group’s performance. He also stated that the technology flow between Tata Motors and the luxury British car brand should not be just in one way. They should make sure that Tata also adds to JLR’s value. Meanwhile, Land Rover has been benefiting from strong demand for its high end SUVs, whereas Jaguar has been facing a slump because of a small product lineup, and a bad image following launch of mediocre cars for decades.
According to the report, for re-establishing the company’s innovator reputation, Jaguar would be developing the production variant of its supercar hybrid concept vehicle, the C-X75. The car will have a starting price of 700,000 pounds, will begin production by 2013. It will be able to accelerate 60mph in under 3 seconds, and drive around 50kms on electric charge. Another hybrid supercar from BMW, the i8 is also scheduled for launch in 2013, which can drive till 35kms without relying on a combustion engine.
Meanwhile, the sales of Jaguar fell to 11,343 cars, a drop of 27% for the June 30 ended quarter, as its limited presence and small lineup in China excluded it from the demand that helped brands like Mercedes, Audi and BMW achieve record sales. All of these companies have their own factories in China, unlike Jaguar.
The C-X75 hybrid supercar from Jaguar will have a limited 250 vehicles production; will help in the launch of the sedan priced under $52,500 that will be critical in boosting their sales. The current line up of the brand includes the XK sportscar and the XJ and XF sedans. With a new sedan positioned in the entry level category, the brand would compete against the 3 Series from BMW, the C-Class from Mercedes Benz, and the Audi A4, which are the top three brands’ highest selling models.
