Tata Motors-owned British carmaker, Jaguar, is keen on growing its India presence in the coming years.
“It is our intent to see India as our second home market and we have an opportunity to overtake competition in the premium market,” said Mr Adrian Hallmark, Global Brand Director of Jaguar. He was speaking to journalists, invited by the company, to the Whitley Engineering Centre.
Tata Motors had acquired Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Company for $2.3 billion three years ago. This was quickly followed by the global slowdown and the Indian company did not have the easiest of times during the crisis.
Today, the worst is over and JLR contributes to a substantial part of Tata Motors' topline.
Jaguar plans to hire over 1,000 engineers for new products and is working on a global strategy which will be driven by technology and design. The XF, launched four years ago, is its core product and still growing. The refurbished version reflects ‘the new phase of growth'.
“We are still a strong British company but not a global company yet and it is important to close the geography gaps quickly. We want to expand into new segments and expand the product portfolio to become the brand of tomorrow,” Mr Hallmark said. This would be an imperative to close the gap with other carmakers like BMW, Daimler and Audi.
China remains the top market for Jaguar with a growth of 47 per cent. While the US and the UK will continue to be relevant, developing growth markets will be the key to Jaguar's future. This is borne by the fact that China is as big as the UK and Europe for premium cars and actually bigger than the US market.
BRIC focus
“There are huge areas where we are not up to it yet. BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations and the Middle East are the growth strategy for the XJ, XF and XK in the future. Looking forward, we are missing a number of strengths. The foundation is good but there are technical gaps,” Mr Hallmark said.
It is precisely for this reason that the 2.2-litre diesel-driven XF is an important step. Jaguar believes there is huge potential for this car in markets beyond Europe. It will take on BMW, Audi and Daimler and is expected to do its bit in doubling sales in Europe. The 3-litre petrol, likewise, is tipped to do well in China, the Middle-East and Russia.
“Hybrid solutions are as important and we will offer this in the near term. Our powertrain and technology gaps will be closed soon. High value products and new technologies will also expand the volume base,” Mr Hallmark said.
Jaguar has outlined a number of steps for its growth plan. The first is to fix the technology gaps while the next will involve developing new segments ‘while rapidly globalising the company'. The XF is expected to become sportier with a sharper focus on technology while the XK will ideally end up being the ultimate luxury product.
As Mr Hallmark put it, there is a huge opportunity to grow Jaguar where “we have to catch up with the gap of the last 20 years in the next five years”. Product will be the heart of the growth strategy and the strong foundation “must grow further as this is what will excite and move the organisation”.