Range Rover Velar buyers pigeonholed

Jaguar Land Rover is committed to offering every possible variant in every market around the world, including Australia, but buyers will flock to certain models, says Tim Krieger, General Manager of Communications and Public Affairs for Jaguar Land Rover Australia.

Speaking with motoring.com.au in Norway last week for the global launch of the Range Rover Velar, Krieger said that the new SUV would be JLR's first attempt at implementing the 'full-range' practice in Australia.

"In the past, where we may have offered... certain derivatives at a certain level, we are now [offering] every engine, every derivative," he said.

"This is from Velar onwards, it's a global strategy of offering consumers a much wider range of choice.

"Velar is the first program where that will be in place..."

Krieger fully expects some Velar variants will be more popular than others in Australia, but at this stage it's purely conjecture. JLR won't know whether the strategy will work until the vehicles actually arrive here and begin selling.

"I think from our perspective, we have a view on what will be the sweet spots in the range; at the moment, early indications are – no surprise – diesel is going to be the favourite engine. And then in terms of the early orders, R-Dynamic and diesels at SE and HSE trim..."

That leaves petrol variants and low-spec models on the fringe of the company's local sales base. Short of the high-performance Velar SVR that's in the works, the new SUV will launch here in a full range from October.

In the past, JLR has refrained from bringing out models that occupy smaller niches in the market. In one memorable example, the importer chose to leave the previous model of XF Sportbrake off the menu in Australia while the federal government grappled with the ISOFIX child safety restraint system.

There's an obvious parallel with Audi in JLR's new product planning model; the German brand has frequently launched essentially a full range of variants from each core model line in Australia. Krieger says that as far as he's aware JLR is not consciously following Audi down the same path.

"I can't say that it was based on Audi; it's the direction that our global marketing team have decided to take," he said.

"I don't particularly think it's: 'Well, we're going to follow what Audi would do or BMW would do'.

"It's more about offering the widest possible consumer choice, and rather than relying on people in local offices to make that decision, we'll make that at a global [level]."

It's a costly, high-risk approach, particularly for small-volume brands like Jaguar and Land Rover in smaller markets like Australia. If the company is holding parts inventory for cars that have sold in tiny numbers only that's an incremental on-going cost over a period of years, to say nothing of the training for technical staff for drivetrain variants that wouldn't be released here. Then there are other logistical considerations, printing brochures and other point-of-sale material, for example.

Yet the strategy may also prove highly effective as a sales tool if JLR can offer buyers sub-niche variants that the German brands can't directly match.

Despite JLR's determination, there will be some models, that just won't make it to Australia. One such model is the Jaguar XE SV Project 8, which is to be built in left-hand drive only. Krieger says that JLR Australia expressed interest in the high-performance XE, but its left-hook specification precluded it from any further consideration for Australia. For the number of cars JLR might have sold in Australia, it was probably a fair call.