Jaguar E-PACE targets new brand of buyer

What the XE began, and has evolved through the F-PACE, will shortly enter a new phase following the local introduction of the Jaguar E-PACE in March.

It's the reinvention of the Jaguar brand.

Illustrating precisely what that means, you won't find any woodgrain veneers in the E-PACE, and that says it all about the new SUV – a vehicle that expands Jaguar's reach into a more cost-conscious sector of the market.

"They're not really going after the old-world market with this car," says James Scrimshaw, Product Public Affairs Manager for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) Australia.

"There's a bunch of people that don't like the old Jags, but they like the F-TYPE, and the XE... and they'll like this car as well.

"It's going to be a different market, a younger market [for E-PACE]."

The E-PACE will bring the traditional Jaguar buyer down into the 20s or 30s. To do so, the new SUV will take a multi-pronged approach – an approach involving everything from pricing and specification to design and marketing.

As an example, there'll be no premium asked for diesel with the E-PACE, and in fact, the entry-level model will be a diesel.

"That is the pricing around the world; the pricing structure and the way it's set up..." says Scrimshaw, "Diesel's going to be the cheapest entry point..."

The sweet spot
Put to him that the mid-spec diesel D180 will be the volume selling E-PACE powertrain variant in Australia, Scrimshaw replies: "That's what the UK thinks."

But he's uncertain that will necessarily hold true in Australia, simply saying that JLR needs three months of sales to be able to draw conclusions.

"Until people start test driving the car, and we see what the customers want... we don't know. We have it all available."

Scrimshaw believes that Australian E-PACE buyers might be willing to spend more than typical British buyers to obtain exactly the car they want – and that could mean the volume seller here is a markedly ‘richer' model than its counterpart in the UK.

"We do fairly well on high-spec engines..."

First Editions
An element of the marketing strategy for E-PACE is the offer of 'First Edition' models at launch. These are based on the SE trim level and second-tier performance powertrains (D180 diesel and P250 petrol), rather than the flagship HSE models powered by D240 and P300 engines. Scrimshaw says that basing the First Edition models on the HSE and high-performance combinations would have pushed the price too high for what the importer expects will be typical E-PACE buyers.

"Probably if you add all that up... if you put HSE [features] and the [high-performance] engines in, it would be a $100,000 compact car – and we didn't want that. We've got the whole range between $47,000 and $83,000, which is where [Jaguar] wanted to have it..."

A discrepancy in price between the diesel First Edition model and its petrol counterpart – a difference of $2500 favouring the diesel, relative to the lower-priced standard SE models – is due to the green-car dispensation from luxury car tax, says Scrimshaw.

The diesel's fuel consumption is below 7.0L/100km, so it doesn't incur the tax for the proportion of the price below $75,000 for the E-PACE D180 First Edition. All three diesels in the E-PACE clock in below 7.0L/100km in fact, whereas the P250 petrol engine in the First Edition E-PACE officially consumes 7.7L/100km.

Launch editions are an increasingly common marketing tactic in the automotive industry, and the First Editions are paying dividends for JLR.

"It's something we started with Land Rover…" Scrimshaw says, citing Discovery and Velar First Editions.

"It's something which attracts people in the first year; the early adopters want something different and something new... and actually the Discovery sold very well. We sold all of them in the first month in Australia. Velar is still doing very well in the First Edition.

"It's something our dealers still want; the dealers order them because they believe there's customers for them – and people that do come in on our brand want the latest and greatest... and a lot of people buy first editions.

"As things go, they are going to be unique and if you look at Land Rover collectibles in the past – SVX and things like that – they do hang around..."

Adding value, reducing cost
The First Editions are better value than an up-spec SE or HSE ordered from off the options list, says Scrimshaw.

"You could try to build one up – if you didn't buy [a] First Edition – and you could build a clone car if you didn't like the combinations in the [First Edition], you could build your own car.

"But it would cost you more, because we normally apply a discount when we get a whole bunch of options together and do a limited edition. We then apply a discount; it's 10 or 15 per cent of all that.

"If you did that separately, it would always cost more."

The rivals
The First Edition models will provide initial sales impetus, but the E-PACE will need to sustain sales beyond that preliminary surge. Jaguar anticipates the E-PACE will have to wrest sales off the Mercedes-Benz GLC, BMW X1/X2, Audi Q3 and Volvo XC40 in the longer term to succeed.

"[Mercedes'] GLC is globally what the target is... XC40, X2, X1 and Q3 are the only [other] cars that have been mentioned.

"There would definitely be more... but they basically gave us the main consideration set, probably based on what the forecast [sales] volume is."

Unfortunately, any talk of sales predictions is off the table.

"Not allowed to talk about that, but it will be our biggest selling car. F-PACE was, but [the E-PACE] will outdo that, because it starts at half the price," says Scrimshaw.

If sales of the F-PACE hold steady in 2018, the E-PACE will have to sell at least 100 units a month in Australia to become Jaguar's most popular model here – and that's the plan.