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The Jaguar brand has been on a steady decline in recent years, but now it looks to its EV future as an opportunity to get things back on track. It seems that the company's recent moves to compete with the German luxury leaders ended up hurting the company rather than helping it, so expect future models from Jaguar to carry much higher price tags and more polarizing designs.
As reported by Auto News Europe, Jaguar Land Rover CEO Adrian Mardell and company design boss Gerry McGovern have admitted that chasing a wider variety of luxury buyers cost the automaker a lot of its value, launching Jaguar into a period of "mediocrity." The brand's solution is to move back upmarket, aiming to appeal to the American rich with designs that stand out more.
The executives point to Jaguar's success in America during the 1990s, not long before the company shifted downmarket in a failed attempt to tackle the Germans. At the time, Jaguar's vehicles were priced higher and directed at a wealthier group of buyers, and the brand thinks it can save itself by returning to a similar strategy. "There are 20 million millionaires in the U.S. alone," Mardell said according to Automotive News Europe. "So, a lower volume, higher price positioning is absolutely the right position for Jaguar today."
That's not to say the shift back upmarket won't be difficult, as Jaguar's detrimental focus on volume over the past 20 years cut off its connection with wealthier buyers. The heads of the brand have acknowledged that they will have to work to "rebuild that brand equity" as a more upscale, lower volume automaker. Jaguar head of design Gerry McGovern says the brand will use "fearless" new designs as an approach to attract the wealthy, which means today's more eye-friendly designs will likely be replaced with a more polarizing direction. "What we will not worry about is being loved by everybody, because that is the kiss of death," McGovern said.
Jaguar's new upmarket strategy will first make its way into three upcoming EVs underpinned by the brand's new JEA platform, starting with a new four-door GT to be revealed later this year. Jaguar has previously said that the new model will get into the hands of consumers in 2025, with a range of over 400 miles and a starting price of $125,000. While that's significantly more than anything offered by Jaguar today, it still undercuts Bentley and Rolls-Royce by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Do you think going upmarket is the right move for Jaguar?
Image Credits: Jaguar
Report
Jul 28, 2023
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Jaguar Boss Admits That Competing With The Germans Was A Mistake
The brand will move away from "mediocrity" by aiming for wealthier U.S. buyers.
The Jaguar brand has been on a steady decline in recent years, but now it looks to its EV future as an opportunity to get things back on track. It seems that the company's recent moves to compete with the German luxury leaders ended up hurting the company rather than helping it, so expect future models from Jaguar to carry much higher price tags and more polarizing designs.
As reported by Auto News Europe, Jaguar Land Rover CEO Adrian Mardell and company design boss Gerry McGovern have admitted that chasing a wider variety of luxury buyers cost the automaker a lot of its value, launching Jaguar into a period of "mediocrity." The brand's solution is to move back upmarket, aiming to appeal to the American rich with designs that stand out more.
The executives point to Jaguar's success in America during the 1990s, not long before the company shifted downmarket in a failed attempt to tackle the Germans. At the time, Jaguar's vehicles were priced higher and directed at a wealthier group of buyers, and the brand thinks it can save itself by returning to a similar strategy. "There are 20 million millionaires in the U.S. alone," Mardell said according to Automotive News Europe. "So, a lower volume, higher price positioning is absolutely the right position for Jaguar today."
That's not to say the shift back upmarket won't be difficult, as Jaguar's detrimental focus on volume over the past 20 years cut off its connection with wealthier buyers. The heads of the brand have acknowledged that they will have to work to "rebuild that brand equity" as a more upscale, lower volume automaker. Jaguar head of design Gerry McGovern says the brand will use "fearless" new designs as an approach to attract the wealthy, which means today's more eye-friendly designs will likely be replaced with a more polarizing direction. "What we will not worry about is being loved by everybody, because that is the kiss of death," McGovern said.
Jaguar's new upmarket strategy will first make its way into three upcoming EVs underpinned by the brand's new JEA platform, starting with a new four-door GT to be revealed later this year. Jaguar has previously said that the new model will get into the hands of consumers in 2025, with a range of over 400 miles and a starting price of $125,000. While that's significantly more than anything offered by Jaguar today, it still undercuts Bentley and Rolls-Royce by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Do you think going upmarket is the right move for Jaguar?
Image Credits: Jaguar
