Chic And Sleek. In Driving Terms
The crossover will come in your choice of the newly revealed 4-door or a previously introduced coupe. Chic and sleek. In driving terms, that translates into having the visibility of a space capsule. The latter quality might be Land Rover's stock in trade, but things are changing fast. The Evoque has always been a fashion-focused machine, ever since the design debuted as 2008's elegant LRX concept. I was impressed with the Land Rover LRX concept when it debuted a few years ago. It was an athletic-looking crossover that had quite a bit of presence despite its relatively small footprint. The production version of that concept, the Range Rover Evoque, is finally here, and it maintains the concept's rakish looks without unduly compromising passenger space. The Range Rover Evoque's design is instantly appealing. The crossover has a wide, low-slung shape that's decidedly not Land Rover, which has been churning out tall, boxy SUVs for years. The automaker sees the Evoque competing with other luxury crossovers like the BMW X3 and Volvo XC60, but I think the Land Rover's styling blows those two away.
Jaguar Land Rover has been going through some tough times. The sales have taken a hit across global markets. In fact Jaguar Land Rover retail sales slumped 0.7 per cent to 128,953 units in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. Jaguar's retail sales for the quarter were 37,323 units, down 1 per cent compared to the same period in the last fiscal. On the other hand, Land Rover retail sales were at 91,630 vehicles, 4.2 per cent up compared to the same period of last year. The Tata Sons Limited owned company is having its share of trouble with Brexit looming in the air too, and there have been talks about the parent company wanting to sell Jaguar Land Rover. However, Tata has made it very clear that Jaguar Land Rover is not up for sale. Tata Motors itself has had a tough year and car sales are down by a huge margin and recovery will take some time. 3.2 billion savings programme and cut several jobs in globally. In fact the company is closing its UK factories for a week to correct the demand and supply curve. However, what Tata is looking at now, is partnerships. Speaking to Bloomberg, Chandrasekaran said, " We are always look for partnerships." He said that the company doesn't want deals where a stake is sold and the company has no say. Analysts, however, already have given their say in this matter. Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein, a global brokerage firm believe that BMW should acquire Jaguar Land Rover from Tata Motors. The firm says that Jaguar Land Rover could have a valuation of around 9 billion pounds and it will be a good buy for BMW. 2.3 billion at the time.
Ben Duckworth took his third Britpart MSA British Cross Country Championship win of the season at the final round of the season at Walters Arena in South Wales. Andy Powell finished second to wrap up the runner's up spot in the championship, which has technical support from Ravenol. Heavy rain made the already slippery course treacherous as the crews made their first runs. An early victim was Richard Green who rolled his Bowler and, after suffering neck pains, decided not to continue. Duckworth set the pace from the first run in his Milner LRM-1 and he built up a lead of over three minutes at the end of the day. Ryan Cooke was second in his Milner with Powell third. Day two got off to a bad start for Duckworth as he suffered a puncture on the first run but he continued to head the leaderboard until the end of the event.
Another big area of concern is that the US market is slipping into a recession. As a result, the demand for luxury cars and SUVs, like those made by Jaguar and Land Rover, will certainly be negatively affected. Although these concerns are relatively short term, the deal will certainly stretch Tata Motors both financially and management-wise. However, the company is very optimistic about the future prospects of these two brands, particularly since it has already seen the future product pipeline of both Jaguar and Land Rover. One of the big hopes for Jaguar is its XF saloon which will be launched shortly in the UK and US markets. It has received a very strong initial reaction at motor shows and Jaguar says that it has already got 10,000 booking deposits for this saloon with 3,000 coming from the US and an equal number from the UK. In fact the UK is Jaguar鈥檚 largest market, contributing to 31 percent of the company's 60,485 unit total sales in 2007. The US follows closely behind, making up 25.9 percent of sales. Among the challenges for Tata in the future will be the pressure to reduce the weight, fuel consumption and emissions of Jaguars and particularly Land Rovers as stricter European Union and US regulations come into effect. Hence Jaguar can rely on a new generation of V8 engines and probably Ford鈥檚 diesel range, but it will need a new range of Euro 6 emission norm-compliant engines for the future. While the new brands don鈥檛 really have any direct synergies with Tata Motors鈥?existing line-up, the real benefits are likely to come from areas like shared component sourcing from existing Jaguar Land Rover suppliers. While Tata has said that it is keen to use the technology from its new brands for its existing and future products. This is likely to be a slow and difficult process that would also increase costs.
Not too long ago, Porsche excused itself from the Canadian autoshow circuit for a couple of years, deciding to invest its event budget in customer experience events instead. While critics, myself included, questioned the move, the result was exponential sales growth for the performance luxury brand. Jaguar has chosen to take a similar approach in Canada, creating a massive road show experience called the Art of Performance Tour, while continuing to take part in the auto show circuit. Essentially, they are getting bums in seats, exposing potential brand converts to Jaguar (and Land Rover) products in most spectacular fashion. The event begins with a short briefing session where guests receive a short history lesson on the Jaguar brand, an overview of the current product line and a glimpse into the future. During this presentation, the Porsche brand is actually mentioned as an example of why Jaguar now offers an SUV type vehicle called the F-Pace.
