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Jaguar advances further into China market
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JAGUAR Land Rover, with its new products out in full force at the current Auto China 2016 show in Beijing, aims to continue its strong sales momentum throughout the year in China, riding on its cars’ elevated performance and luxury.
The past three months saw its Chinese deliveries up 19 percent from a year earlier, which was a complete turnaround from the first half of 2015 when its production localization went through some initial rough patches to get going.
“The lessons about localizing our first car Range Rover Evoque have been learned and applied to Discovery Sport, both of which are now very successful,” said Richard Shore, acting regional president of Jaguar Land Rover China.
At the auto show, the charismatic luxury SUV Range Rover Evoque offers more driving pleasure and a more dynamic look to match in its locally made 2016 edition, and even more style in its newly imported convertible variant. Discovery 4 enhances its off-road options in a special edition marked with a mountainous “landmark” signature to show its conquering spirit.
The Chinese market over the past year was quite a challenge for Jaguar Land Rover to navigate through the throes of macro-economic slowdown and also its product-planning alignment between an imported branch and a newly established local carmaking joint venture with Chery.
Now with its challenger mindset, Jaguar Land Rover is pushing out its third Chinese-made car in just 18 months of its Chinese plant’s inauguration. Making its world premiere at the auto show, the Jaguar XFL sedan on China-specific long wheelbase is set for launch in the second half of the year. It will be the first localized offer of the Jaguar brand, the first localized Jaguar Land Rover sedan, and the first car coming from a dedicated local aluminum body shop in China.
Aluminum alloy with its lightweight but rigid properties makes up 75 percent of the car’s body, which lays a foundation for its agile and energy-efficient performance even though its wheel base is extended to 3,100 millimeters to suit the Chinese preference for spaciousness.
Shore sees a huge potential for the company to grow in the sedan segment, where it has been largely underrepresented due to Jaguar’s minority status and Land Rover’s role as an SUV specialist and main sales contributor.
And he doesn’t see the premium SUV segment at risk of being overdone anytime soon even though the overall SUV segment has been on a high double-digit expansion in China for quite a few years.
“It is a question about how products are differentiated to avoid cannabalizing each other,” said Shore, who is confident in Land Rover’s unique position as a provider of professional off-road technologies.
And Jaguar, with the start of pre-sales of its first SUV F-Pace at the auto show, is developing a new dimension to its understated and sophisticated British luxury. Due to arrive at dealerships in May, the F-Pace packs a sports car’s dynamics, technology, and a family car’s practicality all in its coupe SUV body shape.
The auto show also sees the introduction of the most prestigious version of Jaguar’s luxury business sedan XJ bearing the Autobiography mark with only a limited supply of 100 units for China, and the China debut of Jaguar’s most powerful ever sports car F-Type packing a 5.0L V8 supercharge engine.
Its SVR badge signifies the car’s origin from the company’s special vehicle operation (SVO).
“SVO is not just about performance cars, but also bespoke luxury,” Shore said.
This ultimate pursuit of the company’s value proposition is also showcased in the range-topping Range Rover SVAutobiography at the auto show, featuring the most powerful engine and premium specs in the 46-year history of this flagship SUV series.
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