Although Jaguar and Land Rover have dented Tata Motors’ consolidated bottom line for the 10 months starting June 2008, the Indian automobile major is banking heavily on these two British brands for revival of the luxury car market, which is grappling with falling demand internationally.
On July 9, Jaguar will unveil a super premium XJ sedan sporting a solid V6 diesel and a super-charged 510 bhp V8 engine option. The XJ is comparable with Mercedes Benz S Class, BMW 7 Series and Lexus LS, say experts.
Experts predict healthy demand for the car. But being a luxury car, volumes are expected to be on the lower side when compared with other models in the Jaguar stable. Deliveries of the XJ will start in early 2010 and bookings will commence after the car’s official launch in London.
Jaguar had launched the XFR and the XKR, supercharged versions of its XF and XK sedans, in January. Both are priced at a premium of about Rs 10-20.5 lakh to the usually aspirated versions and belt out higher power.
At a press event on Friday, Tata Motors had said that Land Rover was developing a new model based on the LRX Concept vehicle platform, which was showcased at last year’s Detroit Motor Show.
The UK government granted about Rs 200 crore to Land Rover in March for production of the all-new car, which will also be the smallest, lightest and the most fuel efficient Land Rover model yet. The total cost of developing the sport utility vehicle will be about Rs 3,100 crore.
Furthermore, upgrades of Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Discovery 4 were launched by Land Rover in April this year. These are also expected to boost the top line of the company.
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Ravi Kant, vice-chairman, Tata Motors, said, “There was a kind of double whammy for both Jaguar and Land Rover last year because of the global meltdown as well as transition in ownership from Ford Motors to Tata Motors.”
“However, now that those hurdles are gone, things are looking slightly better for both the brands. The launch of the XK has received a tremendous response and we hope to see a repeat of that for the XJ, which will be launched next month”, he added.
Even though Land Rover, which generates more numbers worldwide than Jaguar, reported a sharp dip in sales of nearly 40 per cent during the 10-month period starting June 2008, Tata Motors appeared bullish on the brand.
Land Rover recorded sales of just 120,000 units during the period as compared with 198,000 units in the comparable period of the previous year. The United States, one of the biggest markets for the brand, reported the sharpest decline.
Jaguar sales reported a near-flat growth during the period. It saw sales of 47,000 units, a drop of almost 2 per cent when compared with sales of 47,800 units in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Sales in North America are expected to be flat this year, according to the country chief executive, Gary Temple. Tata Motors has inked a vehicle finance deal with Fiat Group Automobiles Financial Services. It was due to start business in February.
“Our view is that things will not improve very much this year. The situation has been improving only marginally in the last few months. We are confident that it will be a very profitable company moving forward,” said Kant.