Jaguar Brand Sales Figures - GOOD CAR BAD CAR

I'm really curious what the cause of this is? Lack of inventory, higher starting prices, people shopping elsewhere? I know the '15 XF received a price hike along with more standard equipment. XJ sales have really taken a beating, as has the XF's, the F-Type is pretty steady and the XK is on its way out. A simple search shows roughly 600 Jaguars available, I know that doesn't represent every one available but maybe inventory really is a big part of it. Hopefully sales rebound here shortly, they don't have any new products coming out for at least a year and a half.

 

I think Jaguar is caught up in the great "Technology War" that all of the premium car makers are engaged in but especially Jaguar's main competitiors, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Lexus and Cadillac. People seem to be more interested in a rolling video arcade game than in a great driving, beautiful and comfortable car with a wonderful interior. I find it to be rather hilarious and have a good laugh reading the whining over these gadgets and all of the negative press in JD Powers and Consumer Reports. I am willing to bet most of the problems being reported are nothing more than the operator's inability to figure out how to operate most of this electronic garbage. We had a Cadillac ATS with the wonderul CUE system(what a piece of crap). It was a great driving car but I sure didn't cry when it went down the road for the XF. I am not sure what the solution is for Jaguar but I appreciate the simplicity of our XF's navigation and other electronics. I did not buy a great driving car to have a portable video arcade.

 

I don't think it's as bleak as you might think at first glance. If you look at the numbers, they are much better than 2012's and there are still two more months to report. And December of all months, seems to be historically strong. I would guess why they look bad from last year is that the F-Type had all the hype and they couldn't keep one in the dealership for a period of time. Now that demand has been satisfied and it's back to normal. But this year will still be better than any year prior to the 2008 meltdown and the F-Type 2013 bump.

This is exactly why they are so excited to get the XE. New models always get the numbers up. But they also raise the costs, so it's risky.

 

As I said though F-Type sales have held steady, it's the XF and XJ that are hurting. It may be as mentioned above due to the lack of them having the latest and greatest technology.

 

I'm not sure if it's the lack of technology features or the performance of what's there. I've expressed displeasure with the system being laggy and not working as one would want. But not features. Maybe the bad press has turned those people away.

Either way, there is nothing new in the XF or XJ that is keeping buyers of new Jaguars interested. The used market seems to be doing well based on the number of new forum members

 

I think it mostly has to do with the number of old models. The XJ, XF and XK have all been out for a while. The F-TYPE is an extremely slow seller and is such a low volume car it doesn't seem to impact overall sales much.

I think when the new XF comes out and the XE goes on sale, we will be singing a different tune!

What I find interesting is that JLR can have one of the hottest selling (Range Rover Sport) and slowest selling (Ftype) cars in their lineup simultaneously.

 

Yeah, this baffles me, particularly with the XF. As a convert from BMW 5-Series, I love just about everything about my XF. It's certainly a stunning car and draws WAY more compliments and head turns than any 5er I've had. Frankly, I like that I see so few XFs around but would like to see Jag business thriving.

 

Jaguar - New Car slump. The reason why is because Jaguar has really "bad marketing". They are stuck in a time warp when it comes to marketing. The after sales is good because the price of the car is really low compared to other luxury brands. Everyone is amazed at the after market price and the car you can get.

So if any Jaguar Marketing Execs reading the forums - you need to rethink and perhaps hire someone from Apple Marketing.

 

Here is some of the complaints I have heard over the years about Jaguar, hopefully the XE will put them on the right track.
1) Only Old farts drive Jags
2) Only rich people can afford to buy Jags
3) Reliability is bad
4) After market support is non-existent
5) There is no "younger person model" - raw power with style at the right price.

Here is the details on 2014 YTD Through October sales and ranking in the USA:

US Car Rank.....Vehicle........Oct YTD......YoY Change
#210................ XF.............4,608....... -28.70%
#222................XJ..............3,673....... -18.70%
#228............... F-Type........3,287...... 78.40%
#249...............XK.............. 1,269...... 11.50%
#324.............. Jaguar*Brand..12,837.... -8.10%

 

Personally, I am happy that they don't sell very many.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love that they don't sell in as high as numbers as the German 3, but they still have to sell...from another article I read it looks like a lot of it is due to inventory issues as they're prepping for the XE and new Discovery Sport.

 

In my area I have to drive almost 1-1/2 hours to the closest dealer or 2-1/2 in the other direction. This doesn't drive sales. Network of dealers may need expansion if this is typical in mid-sized markets. My dealer picks my car up for service and returns it at no cost to me, with a jag loaner, but people must want a Jag around here to take the trouble to go shop for it.

 

Well, according to Jaguar's trustworthy marketing group, you and your crazy article are just liars:

 

I actually haven't seen that advertisement for quite some time now. I think Jaguar really does do some amazing advertisements. I'm not sure what their global sales look like though. I'm thinking 2016 will be a big year for Jaguar here in the US. I wonder if the SUV will launch at the same time, they've been pretty tight-lipped about it.

 

What don't you like about their marketing? We have people here commenting on how they like the recent commercials. What makes their marketing old fashioned?

Just to pick up on a variation of this: the lack of dealerships means a lack of competition and in my area, at least, this means a truly woeful dealership experience. Measured against the local BMW or Audi outfits, my local Jag dealer fails miserably. As you say, I really wanted my last two Jags to go to the trouble of shopping for them (and putting up with the nasty pre and post sales experience).

 

I am a young guy, and I think the new ad campaigns are stupid, especially the good to be bad villains ones. Ugh!

 

The point that was made about lack of dealership footprint is probably one of the best ones in this thread. Marketing is one side of the coin, sales centers is another. We are pretty lucky to have a Jag dealer only 10 minutes from our house...there are a lot of areas of the country where there isn't a dealer for hundreds of miles. Whereas any major population center with a reasonable median household income is going to have one if not several BMW, Mercedes, etc. dealers. You need to have a sales presence to boost sales numbers, unfortunately I think the old preconceived notions of Jaguar reliability are still putting a squeeze on the dealers who already exist. It's hard to expand your sales network in a short period of time.

I think with the release of the new SUV, the XE and continual marketing push Jag will keep sneaking away market share from its German rivals

 

>The point that was made about lack of dealership footprint is probably one of the best ones in this thread.

Yes I agree and even more so I've just lived through the process of the footprint actually shrinking.

My dealer was eliminated by Jaguar USA because the decision had been made to combine Jaguar dealers with Range Rover dealers. My dealer (Woburn Jaguar) that had an excellent reputation in sales and particularly service, and was a stand-along Jaguar-only dealer, was given the choice of either dramatically expanding to include RR or loose the franchise.

For various reasons the owner obviously decided that the necessary expansion wasn't viable so now my trusted repair shop is gone and the nearest dealer is now twice as far away.
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Jaguar: Grace, Pace, and Space - Sir William Lyons

 

I think there are 3 jag dealerships outside of the New York City Area for the rest of New York and two of those are in Western New York at the far end of the state. I have had nothing but a positive dealership experience at my dealer. Better than BMW by a considerable amount. The dealer recently moved into a new location with a nicer showroom and service area. It was a combined JLR dealer and remains so.

 

Part of the reason is, the XF is a 6 year old model now. The XJ is only 3 years old, so it's due a face lift, but there is no entry model until the XE comes out and all of their competitors just refreshed their cars . When someone is looking to buy a new car, especially an expensive one like these, they are always going to go with a newer model than something that's been out for years. The lack of an entry model really hurts the brand, as well as its previous reputation. If Jaguar wants to be relevant, they need to release a new XF by next year, they also need to have a new XJ to be ready to come out a year later. Jaguar just needs to catch up and keep up with its competitors if it wants to stay in the game. They just updated their Range Rovers, but those sell because they don't have as much real competition.