Jaguar premium 2010
March 11th, 2010 by Richard Aucock
2010 will be a critical year for Jaguar car dealers as the firm formally adopts a defined premium strategy.
Jaguar dealers will be rewarded for the pain of recent years with better profits and ‘class leading’ cars to sell.
‘The X-Type has now finished,’ Jaguar UK MD Geoff Cousins told Car Dealer Magazine at the launch of Jaguar’s new Mercedes S-Class alternative, the XJ.
‘Our future is in selling cars in lower volumes but with higher margins.’
It is the XF that has been the key car in the firm’s revitalisation, with Cousins praising Jaguar car dealers for their efforts in promoting the BMW 5 Series rival.
‘The XK was great, but that’s almost assumed from Jaguar. It was the XF that marked the real big step – it is this car that has taken market share away from the big German brands.
‘It has done better than we ever thought,’ he said, with dealers playing a pivotal role in this success.
Pain rememdy
Cousins also recognised the pain Jaguar dealers have had to go through in commencing this new strategy. ‘We reduced dealer stock by 35-40 percent. This certainly was painful, but we did this to stop the need to discount and eat into margins.
‘We wanted to stop the vicious circle of institutionalised discounting.’
It’s about achieving quality sales, not quality, says Cousins. Longer term, he hopes this introduces many more customers to Jaguar car dealers – it is here where future opportunities lie.
‘There is a crop of customers out there we have never spoken to. Our cars are ahead of our brand at the moment: it is these customers who offer some of the biggest gains for Jaguar dealers.
‘Ultimately we want to make Jaguar dealers a ‘destination brand’. Specialist car buyers are willing to travel twice the distance than mainstream buyers, because the dealership, the service and the cars at the other end will be worth it.
‘Jaguar is an entrepreneurial brand – we’re very resourceful. If our dealers work in the same way, there’s nothing stopping us competing with the German premiums.’
By Richard Aucock