JLR plans a luxury crossover under Jaguar brand

We recently updated the news of JLR engine facility coming up in India, and the subsidiary, Tata might house some of the engines in its future cars. Now, the British brand wants to push the envelope to add a luxury crossover SUV to its lineup of premium cars.

With the Sportbrake XF getting stunning response at Geneva Motor Show, Jaguar Land Rover is interested in experimenting the Jaguar brand with a crossover of sedan and SUV in the next model. The Sportbrake XF is an estate, powered by a 2.2-litre engine, mated to 8-speed automatic transmission. “A crossover may be relative possibility. There is also certain DNA in Jaguar, which now channelises a kind of crossover vehicle in terms of drivability, agility and that would not be a disharmony to the overall brand,” said Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) Chief Executive Officer to a group of visiting Indian journalists at the Geneva Motor Show.

JLR plans a luxury crossover under Jaguar brand

However, he insisted that the crossover SUV wont be carrying the Jag badge on it. “We have lot of opportunities with Jaguar. If you see our product portfolio right now, it is very limited. So we have opportunity to grow. We are very ambitious and we invest a lot,” he added.

Further, he said that the official announcement of the crossover will be made only after the project reaches certain level of development. “We want to talk upon vehicles only when they reach a certain development stage, because then that make sense,” Speth said.

With JLR announcing the coming of a luxury crossover, the auto-world is left curious and puzzled. As Land Rover already sells the best off-road SUVs in the world (WORLD), a Jag badged crossover might cannibalize the market of the British luxury SUVs.

JLR plans a luxury crossover under Jaguar brand

Speaking on the global SUV market, Jaguar Global Brand Director Adrian Hallmark said although the SUV space is not a very volume-driven category, but it is an important segment that is rapidly growing. “Nothing is planned, but there are many interesting things that we do consider. We are surely considering it right now. This could be one of the 40 new products that are planned for the next five years,” he added.

In addition, JLR is planning to expand its foot in global dealership by 20 per cent in coming 5 years. “We are planning to aggressively expand our network. Our strategy is to add 450 new dealers across the world in the next five years,” Phil Popham, Jaguar Land Rover Director (Group Sales Operations) said.

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