Jaguar: ‘Where Elegance met Horsepower’
JLR is now switching to a ‘House of Brands’, and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has become Jaguar, Range Rover, Defender, and Discovery.
From what I understand, the ‘Land Rover’ brand will be largely unaffected.
However, Jaguar is destined to become a much more limited niche brand.
Jaguar will resurrect itself with three new electric cars.
The mighty three will be upmarket—no longer ‘great value luxury cars’. The new range will start between £100,000 and £125,000.
The rationale, a higher price point, and a slim product range will enhance Jaguar’s profitability for its owner, Tata Motors of India.
Ratan Tata, the chairman of the Indian conglomerate Tata Group in 1999, faced ‘humiliation’.
Ford officials arrogantly offered to buy out Tata’s struggling car division, belittling them.
Apparently, Ford told Tata they would be ‘doing them a favour’ by buying the car business.
This incident didn’t go down well with Ratan Tata, and he called off the sale.
Nine years later, in June 2008, Tata bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford in an all-cash transaction worth $2.3 billion.
Nearly half of what Ford Motor paid to acquire both brands!
The acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover wasn’t just a business deal; it was revenge, a story of redemption, vision, and overcoming adversity.
Tata Motors assured stakeholders and enthusiasts that it would respect and preserve Jaguar and Land Rover’s heritage, brand identity, and manufacturing facilities.
For the sake of Jaguar, let’s hope their memory isn’t too short.
Last but not least, in a sad move, Jaguar appears to be abandoning the leaping car logo, The Leaper.
