9. It’ll cost less than £30,000 (Rs 30 lakh)
All this tech won’t come cheap: analyst Max Warburton predicts aluminium will cost J-LR an extra Rs 1.24 lakh over a steel XE. But the entry-level saloon will still cost less than Rs 30 lakh. A real statement of intent would be to undercut BMW’s 320d EfficientDynamics, which costs £28,410 (Rs 28.5 lakh).
10. It’ll create 1,700 more UK jobs
The XE will be assembled at Solihull, the site of the aluminium stamping and assembly plant for the top Range Rovers. J-LR have begun construction of the new facility, which is in addition to the Range Rover line. All told, J-LR are investing Rs 15,000 crore in the Solihull facility, and the Jaguar developments will create another 1,700 jobs.
‘The 760 will benefit from two ground-up production facilities: the Wolverhampton engine plant and the Solihull production facility. We are very serious about investing in the Jaguar brand,’ said another source.
11. It could quadruple Jaguar’s size
Last year was a big year for Jaguar: the F-type roadster launched, the Coupé variant was revealed, and the Sportbrake and R-S bolstered the XF range. Global sales grew to 60,000+, but that’s still a paltry figure: BMW sell twice as many cars in the UK alone. And the Jaguar brand remains loss-making.
‘Jaguar is not viable at 60,000 units,’ a J-LR executive told analyst Max Warburton. This is Jaguar’s last chance. If the X760 fails, that will probably be the end for the brand.’
However, Tata Motors will continue to pump in excess of Rs 200 crore a year into J-LR as they seek to transform the business. In 2013, Jaguar-Land Rover sold 4,00,000 cars. If the XE plan comes off, Jaguar could be selling 2,50,000 cars a year by 2018, with the group as a whole selling 8,00,000.
‘J-LR is embarking on perhaps the most rapid and ambitious growth plan ever attempted by an OEM,’ says Max Warburton. And it starts right here, right now, with this year’s most important sports saloon.
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Story: Phil McNamara
Photography: Radovan Varicak/Motor Forecast, Greg Pajo
