Jaguar's new all-wheel-drive XJ goes through cold-weather testing.
Considering the record-breaking heat that’s scorched much of the country one might expect a significant turnout as Jaguar’s “Chill NY” event gets underway in New York this week. The event, which gives Big Apple residents the opportunity to skate inside what the maker bills as a “life-size snow globe,” will also feature celebrities Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski and Johnny Weir.
But Jaguar is hoping the real attraction will be the chance to get a first look at the maker’s newest models, all-wheel-drive versions of its flagship XJ and smaller XF sedans – products the maker expects to give the brand a massive sales boost in the months ahead.
The arrival of the first AWD models since the old X-Type was abandoned is part of a broader product roll-out that also includes the addition of Jaguar’s new V-6 line-up. Taking together, “This is a massive deal,” contends Andy Goss, president and CEO of Jaguar-Land Rover North America, “because the market has migrated away from V-8s to V-6 engines, (and another) big problem for us has been we didn’t have all-wheel-drive.“
The addition of V-6 power and all-wheel drive increases Jaguar's potential market six-fold, claims a senior exec.
In key Snowbelt markets, such as New York, that was a real problem, the executive told TheDetroitBureau.com. AWD models have been making up as much as 82% of the demand for key competitors’ products in the Snowbelt, Goss noted. Adding the technology, along with smaller and more fuel-efficient V-6 engines will, he estimated, increase Jaguar’s potential market in the U.S. by as much as six-fold.
For a maker that has suffered years of sales declines and seen its volume increase only slowly this year – well behind the pace of the overall American market’s recovery – that’s potential big news. Goss estimated sales in the U.S. should quickly jump from last year’s meager 15,000 to something above 20,000.
And that’s just the beginning, Jaguar hopes. The company’s Indian parent, Tata Motors, has been investing heavily in R&D, recently increasing its initial capital investment plans for the two brands from 1.5 billion British pounds annually to 2 billion – or roughly $3 billion.
That will result in the new V-6 and AWD models being joined by a steadily expanding product portfolio. At this weekend’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, for example, Jaguar will pull the covers off the most exclusive version of its flagship sedan ever, the XJ Ultimate Edition.
At the upcoming Paris Motor Show, meanwhile, it is set to give a first close-up look at the planned F-Type sports car. Goss says the maker hopes it will do for Jaguar what the legendary E-Type did more than a half-century ago.
“It will be our “emotional fulcrum,” he says of the upcoming sports car, candidly acknowledging that without the sort of high-style products that Jaguar has traditionally been known for it is difficult to compete against bigger brands like Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
But the product program won’t wrap up with the new sports car. “You can bet your bottom dollar,” hinted Goss, “there’s a whole lot of products coming after F-Type.
At the top end, expect a production version of the CX-75 plug-in hybrid supercar.
But what about the mainstream, Goss was asked. There’s a wagon version of the XJ reportedly in the works. And Jaguar is looking at its crossover options, as well.
Part of the challenge for the brand is figuring out how far it can reach without encroaching on sibling Land Rover, which this week revealed the fourth-generation Range Rover. That means no traditional SUV for Jaguar, Goss stressed. But crossovers are another matter. And that appears to be a direction the maker is now exploring.
So, while JLR likely won’t together come close to matching the breadth of product of its German rivals, its showrooms should look markedly different in a few year’s time.