We sat with Mr. Chris Wilde - the Jaguar Land Rover Brand Director - for a short interview to understand his expectations from F-Pace and Jaguar itself in the Middle East. Please find below the interview Q&A.
What are the pros of F-Pace over direct rivals?
F-Pace is a balance between a sports car and an SUV. It is one of the most practical sports cars we can get. It is a growing segment, so the main rivals would be Porsche Macan, BMW X4 and the Audi SQ5 – the cars of that kind of nature. The dynamism and the ride & handling balance we get thanks to the development engineers that gives the whole sports car feeling is the main advantage we have over our competitors.
What is the expected market share with this particular model?
We are not constraining ourselves at the moment so we can’t share particular figures. We are very ambitious with this car and consider it ground-breaking. We are putting in strong effort to launch the car so that as many people as possible know about the car. We will be launching it officially in the MENA region on May 2nd so keep watching this space.
Also See: Jaguar F-Pace Review
What are the main characteristics of an F-Pace customer and how will you define them?
The car can appeal to all sorts of people – whether you’re single or married with children. But our target audience is customers aging 30s to 40s, having a young family and in senior management position. Also, this car appeals to people who are conscious about styling, image, status and outdoor activities.
When is the car to be available in the GCC market?
The car will be available in the first week of May.
How’s the company performing in the Middle East?
Jaguar managed to have a huge amount of growth globally last year. We have the same growth in the Middle East region as well. We recently launched 2 new sedans in the market – the new XE and new XF – in the last 12 months. And the market share is just going to increase further with new F-Pace.
What is the best-selling model from Jaguar in the Middle East?
It will be F-Pace.
What is the future model road map for the GCC?
We never reveal our future plans until at the right moment. What I can tell you is we have come a long way and have reinvented our product range in last 5 years and we are definitely not stopping now. We are constantly looking and evaluating different markets that we can get into but keep that Jaguar DNA intact. There will be more exciting news coming in the near future.
How’s the UAE performance compared to other GCC markets?
UAE is our biggest single market in the region. We had a strong growth YoY with the launch of XE and XF. It is getting stronger and I am expecting F-Pace to continue the trend and gain popularity in the UAE and bring a whole new audience to Jaguar. We are expecting 80%-90% F-Pace customers to be new to the Jaguar brand.
What challenges do you face in the GCC market?
Not just JLR but the entire automotive industry is facing challenges from the oil prices and the economic situation.
Also See: Jaguar F-Pace in Detail
Will the F-Pace be eating up Land Rover’s market share in the SUV segment?
What we have got is an SUV with a very different character. One thing Land Rover has in its DNA is to maintain its offroad capability in each of its segments. With F-Pace, we are catering to customers who are focused more on road / sporty ride and handling setup.
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