Mike Sinclair•19 Aug 2013
NEWS
FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Outline for next-gen Jaguars
Next month's Frankfurt motor show will see the debut of the building blocks of Jaguar's next model family, but not the full storyDon’t believe everything you read – yet. That’s the underlying message from Jaguar Cars, Global Product Marketing and Planning Director, Steven De Ploey, in reference to Jaguar’s next all-new model family.
With speculation flying around that the Indian-owned British brand is set to debut variously, a new 3 Series competitor or the brand’s first SUV/crossover at the show, De Ploey was clear with his messaging when motoring.com.au interviewed him at last week’s launch of new R models in Seattle USA... Jaguar’s ready to kick off the conversation on its new car line, but all will NOT be revealed at Frankfurt.
In fact, his statements point more to the reveal of a new platform strategy, rather than completed models.
“In Frankfurt, we’re going to come clean – what it is that we’re going to do,” De Ploey told motoring.com.au before qualifying his statement.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, obviously. If you look at what we call the chessboard, clearly a 3-Series-like vehicle, a type of crossover, a type of coupé-like vehicle, are all options where there’s a massive market in which Jaguar could bring a relevant, differentiating proposition.
“[At Frankfurt] We’re not going to be showing, if you want, completely like ‘This is what we do’... But we’ll explain, from a Jaguar business point of view [what we are going to do].”
“It’s just to give some direction in terms of where we see the Jaguar growth. Which will be largely: explaining that priority order of how we approach the brand; how we approach the business; how we approach our product portfolio moving forward... And what will be the tools that we will have at our disposal to realise any of the potential products that can be spun off – off those tools,” De Ploey explained.
DePloey contends Jaguar is most successful building vehicles ‘out of the square’. His comments suggest its Frankfurt reveal will facilitate exactly that sort of strategy.
“When Jaguar has done well, it’s most often when it found the kind of a white-space proposition – slightly offset, particularly from what its German competitors have been doing.
“Whilst we want to exploit, probably the biggest pockets in the market, we will always look for a slightly offset proposition to give that, you know, that Jaguar kind of unique breathing space... That kind of a hovering just about the German Three... To give it [the new products] the oxygen to breathe,” De Ploey opined.
“What we’re working towards, obviously, as part of the innovation strategy, is to have the necessary tools that allow us the flexibility to look into any of those possibilities.
“On the other hand... because volume isn’t the driver, and we don’t have 20 factories to fill; neither do we have the need or the push to exploit all of those niches,” he stated.
De Ploey says that Jaguar has registered a number of model/model family names in recent times. He suggests, in part, this has been to put media and competitors off the scent. Jaguar’s last-generation midsizer wore the X-Type moniker. The Mondeo-based sedan and wagon was not one of the brand’s high points, yet, De Ploey says the name and brand still has currency.
“For me, first and foremost, X-Type wasn’t all bad,” De Ploey stated
“We made the mistake at that time of creating [it] off a platform that was compromised and therefore [it] did not deliver on all the attributes that people expected Jaguar to stand for – its performance capability, the refinement – all those good things that make up a Jaguar. So, clearly if we were to do something in future, we would never compromise on any of those attributes...
“But do I worry about the legacy of X-Type as such? Not really... I think in the company there’s more negative baggage attached to the X-Type than probably an outsider, let alone a customer, would attribute to it.
“Honestly speaking, I would gladly appeal to current X-Type owners to come and look at the future Jaguar as well, knowing that, indeed, a great deal of them of more conservative trend, will say ‘Not for me anymore – not the type of Jaguar that I initially bought into’... But a great deal of new, progressive customers will say: ‘That is exactly what I expected a future Jaguar to be like’,” DePloey explained.
Rendering courtesy of AutoMedia
Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Don't forget to register to comment on this article.
Tags
Jaguar
Car News
Performance Cars
Prestige Cars
Written byMike Sinclair
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalists
Related articles
Disclaimer
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Love every move.
Buy it. Sell it.Love it.
®Contact
Advertise with us
Local marketplaces
International marketplaces
Scan to download the carsales app
Want more info? Here’s our app landing page
App Store and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo
are trademarks of Google LLC.