SUV demand heralds new era for Jaguar Land Rover
JAGUAR’S new F-Pace SUV has become the fastest-selling car in the company’s 94-year history, fuelling expectations that parent company JLR may finally be able to break nearly a decade of over-reliance on sales of Land Rover cars.
30,000 models of the marque’s first ever SUV have been sold globally since it hit British roads in mid-April before going on to be sold overseas. JLR is having to secure additional cars to satisfy customer demand, raising the prospect of a new production line having to be built at its Solihull factory if interest continues at the current pace.
The latest online data show that 1.6m people have searched Jaguar’s website for the F-Pace, and 370,000 have taken the time to specify exactly how they would configure the car down to the last detail.
Launched with a spectacular loopthe-loop trick in September last year, the record-breaking stunt set the stage for possibly the most important car ever for the Jaguar.
Jaguar Land Rover sold 521,500 cars last year – but only 94,500 of these were Jaguars, with the vast bulk made up of the Land Rover brand, which the company is determined to reduce its reliance on. Early sales indicate the company is on road to doing this.
Jeremy Hicks, JLR UK managing director, said: “The response to F-Pace around the world has been sensational. Demand for the car in the UK has exceeded our most optimistic assumptions.”
New customers are being attracted by the F-Pace, which is driving down the age of Jaguar owners, with more buyers aged 40 to 50. The company said about 90pc of buyers are new to the marque.
The F-Pace is built at the company’s Solihull factory, and Mr Hicks said that if its success continues a new production line could be opened.
JLR’s British factories are close to capacity and the company is due to break ground on a new plant in Slovakia in the next few days. It has also agreed a deal with Austrian manufacturer Manga Steyr to build future vehicles at its plant in Graz. There is growing speculation that these plants could be used to build a smaller SUV based on the F-Pace.
David Bailey, a car industry expert at Aston University, said: “These sort of numbers show the F-Pace is the musthave SUV this year.”