How to sell Jaguars
ONE OF Jaguar’s many big challenges over the next three years is to keep us thinking about Jaguar. Not so tough if you’re a reader of this magazine, but it is a hell of a lot harder to keep the wider public aware, given that they will not be seeing any new Jaguar launches in the next three years. As you will doubtless recall, this pause, and the cancellation of the electric XJ, is the result of a planned reinvention of the company as a maker of glamorous (let’s hope) luxury EVs. In the meantime, the company must continue to sell its existing line-up to a market increasingly interested in EVs, and always interested in the new. Although it doesn’t look it, the oldest current Jag is the F-TYPE, which appeared as a convertible in 2013, while the newest is the 2018 I-PACE which ought still to be on the money because it’s electric. The E-PACE is a year older (2017), followed by the F-PACE (2016) and the 2015 XE and XF saloons. That’s an ageing line-up by modern standards, even if several of these cars have recently received substantial facelifts that have kept them surprisingly competitive against much newer opposition. But several of them, the unfashionable saloons especially, must be an uphill sell, and like the rest of the car industry, JLR has been hardhit by the semiconductor shortage. Chips come with every new car these days, even a machine as humble as the Dacia Sandero. Which is why Jaguar’s website provides news of wait times for the delivery of all its models, ranging from over 12 months for an XE or
XF to a little less than that for some of the E- and F-PACEs. Some versions of these crossovers Jaguar has prioritised, the hybrid and plug-in versions being available within six months, the same wait applying to the I-PACE and certain F-TYPEs. Which Jaguars come quicker (or less slowly) has been determined by demand, profit-perunit and CO2 emissions. All of which has had a less than pleasing effect on Jaguar’s market share. Through the pandemic of 2020 and 2021 that was a remarkably consistent 1.56 percent in Britain, but during the first two months of this year that slice has shrunk alarmingly to 0.58 percent. The decline is less acute across Europe as a whole so far this year (falling from 0.94 percent to 0.85), but that doesn’t help the brand’s visibility or indeed, its profitability. To counter these effects, Jaguar is busy with activities that keep its name exposed. It partners the British Film Institute for its ‘Woman with a Movie Camera’ initiative, with Everyman Cinemas and Sky Documentaries, as well as GQ magazine for its awards. This summer it will also be linked to the tennis at Wimbledon and there are links with the music industry too. You can expect a steady stream of associations as the months countdown to 2025 and, no doubt, some more creative adventures to ready us for Jaguar’s all-new range of upmarket electric cars. Major reinventions of this kind are rare in the car industry, making this an exciting time, if one dangerously spiced with the need for it to succeed if Jaguar is to survive. And that means selling more cars, too.
JAGUAR IS BUSY WITH ACTIVITIES THAT KEEP ITS NAME EXPOSED
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May 2022 \ Jaguar World | 17
