Jaguar F-PACE unveiled in Australia

The vehicle Jaguar believes will become its biggest seller, be a breakthrough with women buyers and cement its position as a credible player in the Australian prestige and luxury car market had its Australian reveal last night.

Of course, it’s an SUV.

The single red F-PACE S wagon came out from under the covers at a function at the Albert Park grand prix circuit in front of invited guests, celebrities and Jaguar dealers.

It follows the global reveal at Frankfurt last September, the announcement of local pricing and features for the 12-model range in December and our first drive in January in the frozen wastes of northern Sweden.

The reveal also came exactly 12 months after Jaguar Land Rover Australia staged the local unveil of the BMW 3 Series-rivalling XE compact sedan, the vehicle that JLR Australia managing director Matthew Wiesner then described as the start of a product roll-out that would deliver relevance for the Indian-owned British luxury brand here.

But he is clear that the F-PACE, which sits in the heart of the prestige and luxury market and targets the likes of the BMW X5 and Porsche Macan, is the key to truly broadening the appeal of the Jaguar brand from its traditional male, enthusiast base.

“This car provides a far broader appeal and that means we can talk to more people,” Wiesner told motoring.com.au. “The most important part of all that is the female factor and interest and relevance to the female audience, which as we know influences a lot of things we (men) buy.

“They can look at the F-PACE and go ‘Jaguar is quite cool now’ and from a design and relevance point of view we are now hitting the market.”

Asked if he thought the F-PACE would become Jaguar’s biggest selling model, Wiesner was unhesitating in his response.

“I think so yes. In the first full year one-on-one I think F-PACE will certainly outsell XE.”

Wiesner has more than gut instinct telling him that. Since the announcement of pricing in December interest has been high in the F-PACE.

“Based on the reaction we have had so far since we announced pricing the reaction has been fantastic. Dealers have been literally taking orders since the day after that announcement.

“It doubled the online traffic literally overnight from a Jaguar perspective.

“The effect that F-PACE has had on broadening Jaguar’s appeal and reach has just been extraordinary already and we have only really just started tonight.”

Wiesner refused to be specific about how many sales F-PACE might generate in a full year, but a figure beyond 1500 per annum seems to be a solid guesstimate, considering Jaguar is expected to lift from about 10 to 30 per cent of JLR’s combined Australian volume in coming years.

That 30 per cent could equate to around 5000 sales by the end of the decade, a fair lift from 2015’s 1292 total. But how far Jaguar has yet to go is easily seen by the 2015 sales results for BMW – which is Jaguar’s most logical rival in terms of sporting image. It sold 4181 X5s in Australia and 25,022 vehicles overall.

Wiesner also wouldn’t say how many bonafide orders Jaguar dealers were holding for F-Pace, only admitting it had climbed from the figure he gave motoring.com.au in February, which was “about 100”.

“It’s certainly grown,” he said.

Wiesner stressed a Jaguar commitment to building an SUV would not compromise its role as JLR’s dynamic and sporting brand.

“Sure the F-PACE is an SUV, but it's all about performance, it’s all encompassing in and around the driver. It dials up all those emotive things that a Jaguar should.”