It is being hailed as the most important car launch in the renaissance of Jaguar Land Rover — the creation of a vehicle for the mainstream that will show whether Britain’s premier automotive group can take on the Germans.
The baby Jag, the Jaguar XE, will make its long-awaited entrance at Earls Court in west London on Monday, complete with line-up of celebrities including the singer Emeli Sandé, the designer Stella McCartney, the actor Idris Elba and the Kaiser Chiefs.
The XE is Jaguar Land Rover’s statement of intent aimed at the same target market as the BMW 3 Series — one of the UK’s top ten-selling cars — the Mercedes C Class and the Audi A4.
Likely to be priced at about £27,500, it is also the car that will define the industrial future of Britain’s largest automotive employer,
If the XE takes off, it will be the biggest ingredient in getting Jaguar Land Rover to annual volumes of 800,000 a year, from its current 430,000.
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It will use the output of the first new engine plant to be built in Britain in a generation, the group’s new factory at Wolverhampton, manufacturing 2 litre engines capable of producing only 75 grams of CO2 emissions per kilometre — greener and more efficient than the Toyota Prius petrol-electric hybrid power system.
The Solihull-built XE will also be made of expensive but lightweight aluminium, structures that will be the foundation of future Jaguar Land Rover production.
According to Ray Hutton, author of Jewels in the Crown, a biography of Jaguar Land Rover, the XE is the first fruits of the production plans backed by Tata of India, the parent group, after the 2008 acquisition from Ford.
“This is the most significant launch for Jaguar Land Rover,” Mr Hutton said. “It is that rare thing — a completely new vehicle with new structure, new engine, new systems, built in a plant requiring a new, separate bodyshop and assembly hall.”
The motoring press have hailed the fuel efficiency of the baby Jag and expectations of a big step up in the infotainment technology in the cars, which have been regarded as a failing in Jaguars in the past.
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However Mr Hutton warned that there were also downsides. “The XE is effectively a BMW 3-series with the looks of the Jaguar XF,” he said.
“The company promises to go head-to-head with the 3-series, Audi A4 and Mercedes C-class, matching them in size, all the latest electronics and safety kit, and cost of ownership. Because of its aluminium structure, it must cost more to make than its rivals, yet must be similarly priced. And it can’t achieve their economies of scale.
“All of which suggests that profits will be hard to come by — and Jaguar Land Rover has got used to making big profits from its Range Rovers.
“Among the unknowns is whether this all-new car and the 2-litre engines can maintain quality and be reliable from the outset. It adds up to the biggest risk that Jaguar Land Rover has taken under Tata.”