Jaguar and Land Rover reveal ambitions

Jaguar and Land Rover are planning to expand their model ranges at the top and bottom of the market to benefit from soaring demand for both brands, particularly in Brazil, China and India.

Sales and operations director Phil Popham is promising '40 significant product introductions in the next five years'.

Jaguar and Land Rover joint sales were up by 20% to 230,000 in 2010 compared with an admittedly recession-hit 2009. With the baby Range Rover, the Evoque, due to go on sale in September and set to become Land Rover's top-selling model things are looking rosy for the two companies that are both owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata.

However, both companies have identified more gaps in the market that they can exploit.

Sub 25k Land Rover
Land Rover has identified 'an opportunity for a smaller, more compact car that costs less than 25,000', according to brand director John Edwards. 'We have no plans yet, but it is something we can look at.'

There is also scope for stronger sales at the utility end of the 4x4 market, Edwards believes. 'We don't truly compete there at the moment so it is an area of the market we can work in.'

However, as the Ultimate Edition Range Rover due out later this year proves, there are also opportunities for the company in the high-end luxury sector. Land Rover planned to make just 100 of this 120,000 (est) flagship, but has now revised the figure to 500.

An all-new Range Rover will go on sale in 2013, while the company will take Land Rover into the era of electrification, with hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions planned. The new Range Rover will also take advantage of some of the aluminium construction technologies developed by Jaguar to help shed weight. Itwill be 500kg lighter than the present model, the company promises.

Four-wheel-drive Jaguar
Edwards' counterpart at Jaguar, Adrian Hallmark, says his division has 'breakthrough products to come' which will take the company into new segments with models that will be produced in greater volumes.

A 2.2-litre turbodiesel is scheduled to slot into the XF, which will double sales, while a 3.0-litre V6 will go into the XJ for the Chinese, Russian and Middle Eastern markets.

However, Jaguar is also working on four-wheel-drive versions of the XF and XJ to boost sales in the 'snow belt' of the US, and Hallmark would like to see a more extreme version of the XF, similar to the XKR-S coupe that was unveiled at the recent Geneva motor show.

An XF estate, which Hallmark referred to as a 'Sport Break' is also being considered.

The big breakthrough, though, would be if Jaguar could crack the compact executive market dominated by the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series and Mercedes C-Class.

The company tried it with the X-type, but with only limited success. Hallmark says the company is now studying 'how we can bring Jaguar downmarket' with cars at the top end of the up-to-30,000 segment.