Interesting News Article…

[Robbyrner]

I’m sure many of you will have seen this already, but a very interesting article about the future of Jaguar, albeit it from a US angle…

https://apple.news/AFqPDf_duTVe-iqc3V1_OrA

[Moss]

I’ve read a variety of takes on it, over the recent couple of years.
Sadly, I think Jaguar’ve collectively lost the plot.

From the canning of the XJ-replacement, to announcing the full all-electric plans, they’ve totalled their reputation IMHO.
Even the gestation period for the all-electric XK (or whatever it’ll be called?) has been long, slow and difficult.

Other manufacturers have released battery-powered vehicles far, far quicker thus capturing the valuable headspace of the market place; what’s holding Jaguar back? Are they reinventing the wheel?

Less than a year before the announcement my local dealer had invested heavily in a dealership makeover, only to face the news that the mothership would be reducing the number of dealer outlets once the battery stuff was on the way through. Super. Not.
You’ll be buying your high-end, super luxury Jaguar direct from a website, eh? I somehow doubt it.

Folk who have that sort of money (£130K?) to spunk on a car, want some sort of personal interaction and assistance, they don’t want to deal through a hundred-dollar, flakey web site, coloured in hues of dark blue where you can’t even see the car properly…

Rant over
And never trust a Frenchman……

[stefan9107]

I’ve read a variety of takes on it, over the recent couple of years.
Sadly, I think Jaguar’ve collectively lost the plot.

From the canning of the XJ-replacement, to announcing the full all-electric plans, they’ve totalled their reputation IMHO.
Even the gestation period for the all-electric XK (or whatever it’ll be called?) has been long, slow and difficult.

Other manufacturers have released battery-powered vehicles far, far quicker thus capturing the valuable headspace of the market place; what’s holding Jaguar back? Are they reinventing the wheel?

Less than a year before the announcement my local dealer had invested heavily in a dealership makeover, only to face the news that the mothership would be reducing the number of dealer outlets once the battery stuff was on the way through. Super. Not.
You’ll be buying your high-end, super luxury Jaguar direct from a website, eh? I somehow doubt it.

Folk who have that sort of money (£130K?) to spunk on a car, want some sort of personal interaction and assistance, they don’t want to deal through a hundred-dollar, flakey web site, coloured in hues of dark blue where you can’t even see the car properly…

Rant over
And never trust a Frenchman……

I mean this is exactly it.

As we move more and more into the "electric future" there is less and less that sets these cars apart. They will all have roughly the same range, roughly the same speed and acceleration and heavy but low centre of gravity driving dynamics. The vast majority seem to be aiming at the upper price figures and going with the "luxury" target, with very little interest in trying to make cheaper cars for the everyman/woman. Heard on the podcast today that the Kia EV9 is going to start from £65k and the one worth having will be £73k+ . For a bloody Kia! And I'm sure it'll be a great car, most Kia's are these days, but then why is anyone going to choose the Jag equivalent over the Kia one? Because the Jaguar brand stands for something more? Like fuck it does. Amongst the general population the JLR brand means two things. Theft and unreliability. In a normal world low volume and high priced cars would be the answer, but that is what ALL the manufacturers are doing, including all the new upstarts like Rivian or Lucid etc.

[simpleR]

It almost feels like Jaguar announced an all electric future first, followed by a cost of living crisis, then the gov announced it would extend the ban on new petrol sales from 2030 to 2035 and whilst Jaguar have managed to produce nothing, not even a picture or press release, Tesla and lots of upcoming brands have swamped a market that is probably pretty much maxed out for choice.

A lot of electric cars on the road are leases or via company car schemes like Octopus but a £100k+ Jaguar isn't going to sell many unless it has an amazing feature like 1000bhp, 600 mile range, 5yr warranty etc. Which I don't think it will.

The cars are pretty much all similar so my thinking is I might as buy a BYD Seal with 530bhp, 5 seats and with every option ticked sub £48k. If I am spending £100k+ on an SUV then I'll have a Range Rover. If I want a sports car, well I've already got one thanks.

[WShudds]

"We just knew that we didn’t want to be another volume luxury brand, that is not something that aligns with the Jaguar philosophy." Jaguar had "succeed" already and stopped being a volume luxury brand given the low sales of the current range. Someone then decided to give up a small market share for nearly nothing? How can anyone justify this decision?

There's barely any market for basic EVs, it's ludicrous to imagine Jaguar can survive selling luxury electric SUVs. Lotus has a better chance.

[Moss]

It almost feels like Jaguar announced an all electric future first, followed by a cost of living crisis, then the gov announced it would extend the ban on new petrol sales from 2030 to 2035 and whilst Jaguar have managed to produce nothing, not even a picture or press release, Tesla and lots of upcoming brands have swamped a market that is probably pretty much maxed out for choice.

A lot of electric cars on the road are leases or via company car schemes like Octopus but a £100k+ Jaguar isn't going to sell many unless it has an amazing feature like 1000bhp, 600 mile range, 5yr warranty etc. Which I don't think it will.

The cars are pretty much all similar so my thinking is I might as buy a BYD Seal with 530bhp, 5 seats and with every option ticked sub £48k. If I am spending £100k+ on an SUV then I'll have a Range Rover. If I want a sports car, well I've already got one thanks.

That’s what I see, too.

I appreciate some of the global events of the past few years have not been advantageous to the brand - they’ve been consistently caught between a rock and a hard place - but every decision they’ve made seems to have been the wrong one. Every proverbial crossroads has given Jaguar the opportunity to take a wrong turn (and they took it ).

Gen-Z or whatever younger kids are known by these days, will have been awed by a whole variety of other Mickey Mouse marques, masquerading as pseudo-SUVs and the term Jaguar will mean absolutely zilch to them.
Will they aspire to the excitement and differential that Jaguar once stood for?

[Kev]

Gerry McGovern did play a significant role in successfully devaluing the brand last year when speaking to the press:

"Speaking with investors during a meeting held in Gaydon, JLR Chief Creative Officer Gerry McGovern was brutally honest with the current state of Jaguar. He admitted past decisions have hurt the company as the attempt to create a British BMW by attracting as many luxury car buyers as possible has been unsuccessful. Doing so has downgraded the automaker into "mediocrity" with "no equity whatsoever"

People have been brainwashed into driving (I did toy with buying then owning but the majority of people would be renting them) an EV thinking they're doing their bit for the planet, driving around looking smug, the majority of them not having a clue where the leccy comes from to power it or what happens at end of life. Jaguar used to be seen as a prestige brand, a heritage of bank robberies, and being driven by cads and bounders, people with a bit of character

It's a tough time for all manufacturers out there, targets to meet from various Governments and Boards of Directors, material costs, supply chain issues, not knowing which way to go with the drivetrain etc. It's a huge investment and if you get it wrong then you're dead. I wish Jaguar had stuck with manufacturing sports/GT cars instead of getting involved with a diluted market full of dull SUV's; find what you're good at, specialise in it then you can charge more

[scm]

People have been brainwashed into driving (I did toy with buying then owning but the majority of people would be renting them) an EV thinking they're doing their bit for the planet, driving around looking smug, the majority of them not having a clue where the leccy comes from to power it or what happens at end of life.

I read somewhere that road transportation accounts for only 10% of global emissions so even if all private transport was "clean" electricity, it wouldn't make much difference to global warming. I know "every little helps" but it'd be better to focus on the major contributors, surely? And building EVs is pretty resource intensive and the battery requirement is huge compared to home energy use. Not the answer, I'm afraid - it could turn out as successful as persuading everyone that diesels were the answer, and that went well, didn't it?

[simpleR]

Methane accounts for 30% of global warming and lasts longer than CO2 as per recent methane satellite monitoring launch.

[Derivative]

This won't have helped...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-m ... r-68500233

I infer the 'throttle' must have stuck on as well otherwise it would have come to a halt relatively soon on a motorway with no power and just coasting.