This is good news or bad news?
You have many options today if you are looking for a high-riding Jaguar. In five years, however, you will only be able to buy one SUV model from the British automaker – the replacement for the I-Pace. This will be the only Jag crossover that survived the transition to an electric vehicle manufacturer .
In a recent interview, Jaguar’s new boss Thierry Bolore stated this to Autocar. He also said that the marque would reinvent itself with a variety of new models that aren’t directly comparable on the market. Jaguar will be following Land Rover’s positioning strategy, but will offer customers unique-shaped, lower-slung vehicles.
Bollore describes the problem by saying that customers today see [a Jaguar], like it and test it, but still buy an Audi or BMW. That’s the problem. The originals are what people buy. We aren’t the originals. Jaguar must be positioned differently, higher, and more original.
Bollore’s sincerity in discussing Jag’s brand strategy is impressive. This isn’t the first occasion we’ve heard Bollore speak about the problems behind closed doors. Bollore admitted that Jaguar’s product quality is causing them to lose at least 100,000 sales each year and that drastic improvements would be necessary.
Jaguar’s most significant task over the next few years is to find an electric vehicle platform that matches its new strategy. It is unclear at this time whether Jaguar will use an in-house-developed architecture or source one from a third party. The company’s current generation of SUVs will be maintained until their end-of-life, when they will be retired.