Jaguar XE makes Aussie debut

The countdown to the Australian on-sale date of the vital new Jaguar XE premium compact sedan in August has started with the car’s local unveiling in front of an invited audience at the Albert Park Formula One Grand prix circuit last night.

And the aggressive message from the company’s local management is the XE will target the BMW 3 Series squarely on price, while offering more standard equipment and superior value.

Following on from the F-Type sports car, the XE is the second model in Jaguar’s model rebuild, which will soon also include the F-Pace cross-over, the second generation XF and a refurbished XJ.

The XE has the tough but potentially lucrative job of taking on the Germans – and especially the 3 Series – as well as Lexus, Infiniti and Volvo in the global compact luxury segment.

The XE is planned to play a key role in driving Jaguar sales from 80,000 in 2014 to more than 200,000 by the end of the decade. It succeeds the Ford Mondeo-based X-Type that was supposed to do the same job 15 years ago and failed. That car ceased production in 2009.

Around 200 potential buyers, Jaguar dealers and staff got an up close look at a pre-production supercharged 3.0-litre 250kW/450Nm V6 XE S, which will be the flagship of the range. Initially it will be joined here by a turbo-diesel powered by the new 132kW/430Nm 2.0-litre Ingenium engine.

Both variants of the Ford-sourced 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine XE (147kW/280Nm and 177kW/340Nm) will also go on-sale in Australia later in the second half of 2015, with turbo-petrol Ingenium engines replacing them in 2016.

It is expected there will be four model grades for the XE sedan family picked from the five badges offered in the UK: SE, Prestige, R-Sport, Portfolio and S. Based on current 3 Series pricing, the XE range can be expected to fit in a band between about $60,000 and $90,000.

Further additions to the range, including yet-to-be-officially-confirmed all-wheel drive variants to join rear-wheel drive, hybrid, a high-performance SVR model, and other body styles, are expected to keep the model cadence going through 2016 and beyond.

Jaguar is making a point of targeting the 3 Series because it is regarded as the driving enthusiast’s choice in the segment. The XE has an all-new aluminium-intensive modular architecture and sophisticated suspension systems that the British company is confident will enable it to go toe-to-toe with the BMW.

“XE (pricing) has to be in and around where 3 Series is,” said Jaguar Land Rover Australia managing director Matthew Wiesner. “It is fine having all the cool design aspects and all those other aspects that are really important, but at the same time we have to be competitive.

On specification level he added: “We will never be the cheapest and nor would we want to be, but nor does that mean we won’t be offering outstanding value. We’ll let the others do the fight for the entry point.”

But Weisner made it clear that Jaguar Australia knows it is in for a tough fight to lever sales from the 3 Series or ether of its two German rivals, the hot-selling Mercedes-Benz C-class and the Audi A4.

“This segment is arguably the most competitive in the market today. The value propositions that are out there are extraordinary. We know what the three German brands have been doing from a value perspective; the amount of car you now get in that segment is outstanding.

“But we have an advantage because we are the – dare I say it – fresh-faced non-German brand ... so there are going to be a lot of inquisitive people who have owned a number of A3, C-class and 3 Series over time and they are going to want to try something new and interesting and different.”

Weisner was also clear sales projection for the XE are modest compared to the Germans, which are now among the top-selling medium and large cars in the market.

“Our main focus is getting people in this thing and experiencing it ... we are not expecting to do the volumes they are doing.”

Weisner explained the decision to launch at the GP venue was made to reinforce the sporting credentials of the car and the Jaguar brand.

“We did it to remind ourselves, our dealers and everybody of what Jaguar was and what Jaguar should be,” he said. “Jaguar as a brand needs to be a driver’s brand, probably not what previous ownership said, where it was argued in some cases about being driven. This is a brand – and this has uniform agreement around the world – needs to be about dynamics, must be about driving, about fun, about sharp handling.”

And he said the S was appropriate to display last night because it was the XE model that captured that ethos the best.

“It dials up everything about what this car means to the brand; the looks, the stance, the noise. So we will have a significant focus on that.”