Company Analysis Report: Jaguar Cars

1. Summary
This report’s objective is to give an insight into the company called Jaguar Cars, one half of Jaguar
Land Rover Limited which is owned by Tata Motors. Currently they have been going through a
major rebranding of their company, with models being replaced and new ones being added, i.e. the
XE and F-Pace. Jaguar now currently produce, the XJ, XF, XE, F-Pace, and F-Type. Jaguar’s main
competitors are: Mercedes, BMW, and Audi.

Jaguar has a long and rich history, which matters in the luxury car industry where consumers tend to
have loyalties lying with certain companies over others. Jaguar itself has a reputation of being
inefficient in terms of fuel use, and being old fashioned. Therefore the main update to Jaguar has
been the exterior where the body, previously made from mainly steel, now contains aluminium as
its main material, making the car lighter and more efficient. Furthermore the styling of the cars has
changed, meaning that the look now is sleek and modern. Finally they cut ties with the old models
by giving the new models new names.

However the problem that Jaguar has is that the market that their two new models are going into
markets which are already quite saturated therefore it will be hard for Jaguar to gain any real
market share unless the models are one of the best in each market. Furthermore by introducing an
SUV, Jaguar may be competing with Land Rover which would not help compete revenue so Jaguar
must make sure their SUV (F-Pace) is substantially different, Additionally, Jaguar is currently
debuting in the Formula E championship which will hopefully improve their image and their electric
power technology.

Jaguar need to mainly sort out the image they are perceiving to the consumers. They are trying to
reduce the idea of Jaguars being inefficient by investing in electric technology and making the body
lighter but they are still very confusing about the naming of their models with there being no real
structure with how to name the models. Jaguar keep trying to relate everything to their heritage
while trying to appear very modern. This does not work in most cases.

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 Contents
1. Summary .................................................................................................................................. 1
2. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 2
3. Jaguar’s products ...................................................................................................................... 2
4. Jaguar’s competitors ................................................................................................................. 3
5. Jaguar’s order winning criteria................................................................................................... 4
6. Jaguar’s Main Opportunities and Threats .................................................................................. 4
7. Recommendations for Jaguar’s strategy ................................................................................... 5
8. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 6
9. References ................................................................................................................................ 7
10. Glossary .................................................................................................................................... 7

2. Introduction
Jaguar Cars is one half of Jaguar Land Rover Limited, making luxury vehicles in the automotive
industry. It is a British brand owned by Tata Motors, part of the Tata Group; the largest
conglomerate in India. Jaguar was founded in 1922, and has a rich history in the automotive
industry.

Right now it is undergoing an important part of its life, as it is rebranding itself completely and
restructuring the firm. Jaguar Land Rover, has in the recent past, had not much stability, with being
sold and bought by various companies. However now it seems as if it will be stable under the
ownership of Tata, and his means that Jaguar can now start pushing the boundaries of automotive
engineering.

This report will be looking at the products, competitors, opportunities and threats of Jaguar Cars,
and give a better understanding in where Jaguar should go and what problems they may face in the
future.

3. Jaguar’s products
Jaguar Cars produce five models, with derivations in each. They are: the F-Type, F-Pace, XJ, XF, and
XE. They produce sports versions of each model too, and all of these models compete in the luxury
section of their individual market.

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 The XE is a small saloon car, with the XF a slightly bigger and more powerful version of it. The XJ is
the flagship model for Jaguar, the largest car and the most luxurious. The F-Pace is a new to market
SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle), and the F-Type is an upper-market sports car.

1 – Jaguar XF (Jaguar) 2 – Jaguar XE (Jaguar)

5 – Jaguar XJ (Jaguar)

3 – Jaguar F-Pace (Jaguar) 4 – Jaguar F-Type (Jaguar)

4. Jaguar’s competitors
Jaguar’s main rivals in the automotive industry comes from Germany, in the form of Audi,
Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Porsche. They are all luxury vehicle manufacturers too however there is
not a company in the automotive industry that can be compared to Jaguar. This is due to the fact
that Jaguar itself, before the introduction of the new XE and F-Pace, had only three models of cars:
the XF, XJ, and F-Type. Now while the rival manufacturers as aforementioned produced similar cars,
they also produce other types of models too, for example they all produce hatchbacks, in the form
of the BMW 1 Series, the Audi A1, and the Mercedes A-Class. By bringing out the F-Pace and XE,
Jaguar is showing people that it is determined to become a luxury car manufacturer for all types of
cars, but right now the XE and F-Pace are in the question mark stage of their life cycles.

The other models; the XJ, XJ, and F-Type, have all become either cash cows or stars. The problem
they have is that they have the German car manufacturers already in the market they are trying to
go into. Therefore while Jaguar are making cars which are arguably just as good or even better, the
market is too saturated with manufacturers. Furthermore, in the luxury car market, the type of
customers who buy these cars tend to be loyal to a particular brand so that makes it even harder.

The XE and F-Pace will hopefully interest people, as they will be new to the market and so
something different to the market leaders. Furthermore Jaguar can use its heritage to its advantage
as the XE will be affordable to many people and with that comes Jaguar’s reputation for quality and
luxury, which the German manufacturers do not have, as their reputation is mainly on innovation
and high quality engineering. Therefore for many people being able to buy a car brand that is
normally seen as the benchmark in terms of luxury. This is true in terms of other British car
manufacturers, in Aston Martin, and Rolls-Royce Cars (originally British before being sold to BMW).

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5. Jaguar’s order winning criteria
In the automotive industry, the heritage of a brand matters greatly to a customer. Hence why in the
luxury car section of the market, stereotypes tend to be a major reason why people choose one
manufacturer over another. This is similar to brand loyalty except the history of a brand can
persuade a consumer to choose a particular manufacturer not loyalty. In Jaguar’s case this works
positively for them as they are the only car brand in their market that can compete with the German
luxury car manufacturers.

However Jaguar has a negative stereotype too, mainly being known for having large engines and
therefore using up large amount of petrol, and being old fashioned. Therefore in 2009 Jaguar
introduced the new generation of the XJ model, stopped production of the S-Type model and
replaced it with the XF, replacing the XK with the F-Type, and bringing out the all new XE to
challenge the smaller saloons of the German manufacturers. This change was drastic, making the
looks more sleek and modern.

1 – Jaguar XJ 2006 (What Car? 1 – Jaguar XJ 2016 (What Car?

Magazine) Magazine)

Another major change they decided on was changing the main material of the body of the car from
steel to aluminium. This meant that the car became lighter and therefore more efficient in terms of
fuel use.

6. Jaguar’s Main Opportunities and Threats

The two new models that Jaguar have brought out are similar in terms of they are both going into
markets where there are a large range of manufacturers who exist. In terms of the F-Pace in
particular, it will have to be a top quality car. According to Autocar Magazine (Autocar Magazine), it
is good looking, has great handling and very roomy inside but it fails on arguably the most
important aspect of the F-Pace, its engine. The F-Pace is meant to be a sporty SUV according to
Jaguar, however if its engine is not powerful enough, meaning that it is slower in terms of
acceleration and top speed, then it does not fulfil its main goal. Therefore the consumer that Jaguar
focuses on is less likely to choose a Jaguar, however it could still make a connection with others due
to its practicality.

Furthermore, Jaguar may be stepping on Land Rover’s toes by creating a luxury SUV, therefore
meaning that the total sales for JLR may stay the same and not compete. Therefore Jaguar will have
to make sure they market the F-Pace as a completely different type of SUV than any that Land
Rover produces, mainly the Range Rover Evoque or Land Rover Discovery Sport.

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 Jaguar has begun to compete in the highly respected Formula E championship. This is an astute
move by the company as it has, by making this move, stated that it is ready to become a world
leader in electric power systems for automotive technology. The Formula E championship is highly
respected all-round the globe, and involves some of the best racing drivers on the planet so this is a
very good image Jaguar is creating. Furthermore by competing in it, Jaguar has made a link back to
its heritage of being a racing manufacturer and its history of fast and powerful cars.

7. Recommendations for Jaguar’s strategy

By competing in Formula E, Jaguar will give itself an opportunity to learn more about the electric
power system in cars and how to best improve it. The only problem for Jaguar is that they need to
make sure they are competing at the highest level, firstly so that they can gain more income, but
also so that they are greater respected by people in the electric motor industry. The Formula E
championship could become a way of competing the different electric engines from manufacturers
against each other. A similar idea to what the WRC (World Rally Championship) used to be, and still
is to an extent. The WRC was set up so that only production cars were used, and so it became a
place where a lot of production ca development began to happen. For example, the WRC spawned
the great Audi Quattro, the car which created the base for all 4 wheeled driven cars today.

The major mistake that is being made by Jaguar is the naming of their models. They have decided
to name their models with an “X” followed by a letter, e.g. “XJ”. However they did not do this
concerning the F-Type. This would be acceptable except for the fact the predecessor for the F-Type
was the XK which follows the same naming pattern that the new models do. Furthermore the
predecessor of the XF was the S-Type, XE was the X-Type, and the XJ was the XJ. The naming of the
models does not seem to be well thought out. However an argument to this is that the F-Type
follows on from the C-Type, D-Type, and E-Type. This is a link back to Jaguar’s heritage, however
that goes against what the rebranding is, that Jaguar is all new and fresh. It should be
recommended to Jaguar that they should choose if they want to include the link to the past or not,
and then decide a systematic naming system.

Jaguar has had a long and rich history in manufacturing, with the Jaguar plant in Castle Bromwich
being a factory where the Spitfire airplanes were manufactured for World War II. They pride
themselves on their history, especially with the E-Type, considered by many to be the most
beautiful car ever made. However the problem with this is that they will never be able to move
forward if they keep looking back, and so they should focus on future, and produce the highest
quality cars now to create a base for their brand and reputation. Jaguar at the moment is going
through a complete rebranding, which is why they are focused on development at the moment.
They are the UK’s leading investor in manufacturing research and development, and they are
currently working with the Warwick Manufacturing Group (part of the University of Warwick) as
part of their research.

This is all possible however due to Tata Motors, a subsidiary of the Tata Group which has many
different sources of income and so if it needs to pump money into a particular part of the group it
can use the revenue being produced by the other parts and so does not ever lose cash flow, and not
gain much debt. This meant that Jaguar could withstand huge large losses due to research and why
they were able to rebrand their entire company.

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 However while it would be good to try and move away from the past, I feel they should use it to
their advantage by tempting consumers to the brand using the history and after their new brand is
fully assured and sorted they could start to move away. Using the heritage of a car manufacturer is
very important, and best shown by Lancia Cars. During the 1900s, Lancia thrived, making some of
the best cars ever made. They had a winning formula and a history better than most manufacturers
with winning the WRC 11 times, more than any other manufacturer. They were the cars to beat yet
after a crisis with one of their models, the Lancia Beta, they went out of business. However they
returned but the management team made a decision to go in a different direction and so now they
are a small company not known by the majority of people nowadays, and due to leaving their
heritage have not made a car anywhere near the standards of their old models.

8. Conclusions
Jaguar is slowly coming out of the baby phase in its rebranding, shown by the introduction of the
two new models. Yet before they completely leave that stage they still have problems to sort out
about their direction and their brand. It would be best if they decided to call the F-Pace and F-Type
something similar to the XE, XF, and XJ, however it may be too late already so they may have to
continue with it.

Furthermore their involvement in Formula E can only be good, assuming that their finances from
Tata Motors takes into account the possibility of not making a profit from racing. If Jaguar do want
to really become a major brand again, i.e. gain the market share of Mercedes and BMW, then they
will need to step up to the next level though. Both of the latter companies have many more models,
and have a reputation for each of them. Jaguar needs to assure that it can produce the same level of
quality, maybe even better, so that later on down the line, Jaguar becomes a byword for luxury,
quality and excellence.

Lastly, Jaguar should be careful about stepping on Land Rover’s toes with the F-Pace. Although it is
different in quite a few aspects, to the general public it is hard to see if they will pick up on that. The
problem about car reviews is that they are written by people who know about cars and so the
average person in the street may not understand fully the experience of the critic. Therefore Jaguar
needs to assure that it stays separate to Land Rover.

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 9. References

Autocar Magazine Jaguar F-Pace Verdict [Online] // Autocar Magazine. - 13 02 2017. -

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/jaguar/f-pace/verdict.

Jaguar Jaguar F-Pace S [Online] // Jaguar. - 12 02 2017. - http://www.jaguar.co.uk/jaguar-range/f-

pace/f-pace-models/s.html.

Jaguar Jaguar F-Type Coupé [Online] // Jaguar. - 12 02 2017. - http://www.jaguar.co.uk/jaguar-

range/f-type/coupe-models/index.html.

Jaguar Jaguar XE [Online] // Jaguar. - 12 02 2017. - http://www.jaguar.co.uk/jaguar-range/jaguar-

xe/index.html.

Jaguar Jaguar XF [Online] // Jaguar. - 12 02 2017. - http://www.jaguar.co.uk/jaguar-range/jaguar-

xf/index.html.

Jaguar Jaguar XJ [Online] // Jaguar. - 12 02 2017. - http://www.jaguar.co.uk/jaguar-

range/xj/index.html.

What Car? Magazine Jaguar XJ Review [Online] // What Car?. - 10 02 2017. -

http://www.whatcar.com/jaguar/xj/saloon/review/.

What Car? Magazine Used Jaguar XJ Saloon Review [Online] // What Car?. - 10 02 2017. -
http://www.whatcar.com/jaguar/xj/saloon/used-review/select-model-year/.

10. Glossary
Cash Cow – A product with low market growth with a high market share.

Stars – A product with high market growth and high market share.

Market Pioneers - The first product of a particular market.

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