Jaguar SUV to aim directly at BMW X5

It might be based on the same platform as Jaguar's upcoming XE mid-size sedan, but the British luxury brand's first SUV will aim directly at Australia's top-selling SUV, the full-size BMW X5.

That's the word from Jaguar Land Rover Australia managing director Matthew Wiesner, who made the importance of the all-new Jaguar crossover clear at this week's launch of the Land Rover Discovery Sport.

"We look at F-PACE as being a statement it makes around Jaguar and the relevance it brings to the brand, which is arguably more important than XE because it suddenly opens us to a whole new growing market trend that Jaguar's never had access to before.

"We're about to drop XE into arguably the toughest segment in the country where everybody's having a red-hot go and then we're putting ourselves into the position where we can grab the Jaguar brand a year later and put it into segment space that is growing.

"It creates the opportunity for us to bring people in who would never have considered a Jaguar if we hadn't been in that premium SUV space -- people who've previously never considered a Jaguar," he said.

Due to make its world debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September before going on sale in Australia by mid-2016, the production version of the all-new F-PACE – as it will be called – was spied earlier this year and officially previewed by the 2013 C-X17 concept.

The F-PACE is based on the same new aluminium-intensive iQ[A1] platform as the Mercedes-Benz C-Class rivaling XE, but like the second-generation XF sedan will be bigger in all directions.

It's expected to be similar in size to the C-X17, which was 4718mm long overall, 1959mm wide, 1649mm high and rode on a 2905mm wheelbase.

That would make the F-PACE only slightly smaller than the X5, which last year found more than 4000 homes Down Under, making it the nation's top-selling large luxury SUV and Australia's favourite premium SUV, period.

At 4857mm long, 1993mm wide and 1776mm high, the X5 is 139mm longer, 34mm wider and 127mm higher than the C-X17, and its 2993mm wheelbase is 28mm longer.

Similarly, Jaguar's concept SUV is slightly smaller than the 4850mm Range Rover Sport from its sister brand Land Rover and also narrowly undercuts other large European luxury SUVs like the Mercedes-Benz M/GLE-Class and Porsche Cayenne.

However, it's a whole 218mm longer than the Range Rover Evoque (4500mm), 128mm bigger than the Land Rover Discovery Sport (4590mm) and significantly larger than other mid-size luxury SUVs including the top-selling Audi Q5 (4629mm) and BMW X3 (4648mm).

Wiesner made it clear the F-PACE would be positioned as a direct rival for large SUVs like the X5, which is currently priced from $83,900, rather than mid-sizers like the X3 (from $60,657) and Land Rover's own Evoque (from $49,990), as some might have expected.

But he insisted the first Jaguar 'crossover' will not steal buyers from Jaguar Land Rover's established luxury SUVs, including the Range Rover Sport and Evoque, which he said were different enough to allow both brands to co-exist in the luxury SUV sector.

Asked if the F-PACE would cannibalise Range Rover sales, Wiesner said: "Not really, but obviously we need to better understand the role that it plays within the [Jaguar Land Rover] range."

JLR executives say that while Jaguar's 'crossover' will focus on "performance", rather than the "capability" for which Range Rover's SUVs are known.

"It's got to be a Jaguar and a dynamic driver's SUV and all those things, and from all accounts it's heading in the right direction.

"Certainly globally all indicators are that there is plenty of space for us to enter that [luxury SUV segment] with a Jaguar but also potentially with additional Range Rover products as well, so it just doesn't stop with Jaguar.

"It comes down to personal taste, styling. If you have someone that has come in and bought two or three Range Rover Sports and is keen for a change, we rather create that opportunity ourselves [for them] to change rather than have them run off and buy another brand. So it's about being smarter about our own customer base and creating other opportunities for them to stop them disappearing."

Wiesner wouldn't reveal exactly how the F-PACE will be positioned in the local market relative to the Range Rover Sport, pricing for which starts just above $90,000, saying only: "Wait and see".

But he admitted there was heated internal debate around where the F-PACE will fit into the JLR model range.

"Guaranteed there's some competitive spirit around the place and we've seen that in some of the discussions we're having with the product guys and around pricing and the like as to what those considerations are, as there should be – you want it to be competitive."

Jaguar is expecting significant sales growth from the addition of both the XE sedan and F-PACE crossover, which will share be powered by the same range of new 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, as well as V6s.

They will also share their all-aluminium suspension systems and torque-vectoring technology, and while the F-PACE wagon will come with a rear-biased intelligent all-wheel drive system, the rear-drive XE four-door should spawn five-door wagon and two-door coupe and convertible derivatives.

“The two things that will happen over the next roughly 14-16 months with XE and then F-PACE [is that] Jaguar becomes very much a relevant premium luxury brand once we roll those two products out.

"Because we add volume, we add some scale to the business and the importance that adds to the [dealer] network is vital from a business perspective and a consideration point of view," said Wiesner, who admits the British brand is coming from a low base locally.

Last year the leaping cat brand sold just 1167 cars in Australia, which was up about five per cent on 2013 levels, but less than four per cent of the 31,895 vehicles sold by luxury market leader Mercedes-Benz, which led BMW (22,722) and Audi (19,227).

Currently, Jaguar Australia is represented only in three vehicle segments with the XF large sedan, XJ limousine and F-TYPE sports car, following the discontinuation of the larger XK coupe and convertible.

The F-TYPE coupe is outselling the convertible by up to five to one in Australia, which was one of the top markets globally last year for the XK, the last example of which was sold last month.

While the XE goes on sale here in August – the same month the XF is launched in Europe – Jaguar Australia will release a facelifted MY16 XJ in the fourth quarter of this year, followed by the XF by March next year and the F-PACE by next June.

What's coming from Jaguar:
XE sedan – August
XJ MY16 facelift – Q4
XF sedan – Q1 2016
F-PACE – mid-2016