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2016 Jaguar XE
By Joseph Scott Dec 4 2014 - 10:30am

Has Jaguar regained the trust they once had?

The brand of Jaguar once had a strong reputation and carried the nameplate that everyone trusted and wanted to drive. The status symbol of owning a Jaguar was one fans wore proudly, has this changed?
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Jaguar has worked diligently to bring the brand back to the vehicles they once were and that takes time and proven improvements. The new ads and video marketing will only take you so far unless the cars themselves are built better and are more reliable than your competitors.

In a recent interview from Auto Market Intelligence they spoke with Steve Cobelli (Jaguar Cars Digital Marketing Manager) and he shared the plans for keeping the brand alive and reaching new customers. He stated “We asked ourselves how do we reignite the brand in the eyes of our consumers, and how do we separate it out from our competitors? We’re up against some heavy hitters in the form of the iconic German brands, and in North America, Lexus and Infinity too. We differentiate ourselves by ‘Aliveness’. Look at the leaping symbol of the Jaguar, and our tagline, ‘How Alive Are You?’ Added to that, the cars have a sports feel, lots of technology and there’s a seductive nature to our design”.

He goes on to discuss the desire to have markets do some driving events for the enthusiast to drive a new F-Type next to a Porsche 911 for comparison. That’s a great idea and I have already covered the possibilities of this spirited challenge here.

When asked about his thoughts on Jaguar reaching the new, younger customers he said that the new lighter weight XE would have lower class leading CO2 figures and the responsiveness of the F-Type should appeal to the younger more technologically minded consumers. If you look at the specs, this new car should do well head to head against the BMW 3 series.

The younger demographic of buyers will be an important factor if Jaguar is to reach the new consumers who are considering the brand. Cobelli said “Ultimately our buyers will be younger The average is now stabilizing towards the later 40’s to early 50’s but certainly over the next 12 months we’d like to see younger buyers. If we look further ahead, our buyers will be more diverse as well. More new models are coming and with them, we will reach new customers”.

To me the key will be after you reach these potential new consumers, can you provide them with a reliable product that will leave them brand loyal and be a return customer? As for now the Jaguar brand is Alive and doing well in the market and I see only brighter skies ahead for Jaguar.

DON'T MISS: Can Jaguar keep the excitement going?

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Comments

John Hackett wrote on December 5, 2014 - 7:17am
Great to see Jaguar doing so well and finally getting the credit for the excellent products it's been building for the last 15 years. They need to be careful about brand dilution though. They must not overextend their model range a'la BMW or make their styling too generic. The forthcoming XE is an example of trying to compete against a benchmark of existing competition, resulting in a very generic looking product. Jaguars are known for their elegance, distinctiveness, luxury and sporting prowess. These values are as relevant to younger buyers as much as they are to older customers. Young successful customers want a distinctive product that makes them feel special, not a product that is difficult to discern from the competition. Jaguar need to remember this going forward or they will lose their very valuable and unique brand image.
Joseph wrote on December 5, 2014 - 9:14am
John......very good point! I agree with you 100%, I guess Jaguar is trying to bring this new XE in at a price point that will attract that market of buyer, and then try to lure them into the higher range models. Hopefully they can do that after they win them over with the brand! But, you are spot on with the thought of not diluting the brand down too far and loose the distinction of the Jaguar style!
Gary Kish wrote on December 5, 2014 - 4:44pm
Even with 3 shifts going on for some time now, North America has only received 13-14k Jags or year. Up from just under 10k back in 2008. Even if they bring 3,000 + XE sedans over I don't think they can reach the numbers of the German giants. Both BMW and Mercedes Benz are already at 280k + pre year. I think Porsche is expected to hit 45k as well. Jag is a very exclusive company.
Mike wrote on December 7, 2014 - 8:11pm
You know it's all about the dollar, jag has shareholders to report to as all others do, I just bought the ftype, and each and every upgrade ( if I shall call it that) has a price tag....when safety is involved, you shouldn't put a price tag on it, u actually can't , but the rear view camera should be standard, period...if it was all about being responsible that's how'd it be...if your gonna talk it do it, don't smoke and mirror, then you'll have a brand that stands for something.