Jun 18 2008 By John Duckers
Jaguar is fighting back after being badly beaten up in recent years, its new boss has claimed.
And Geoff Cousins, managing director of Jaguar UK, said he was confident Indian owner Tata had bought the company “for the right reasons”.
Jaguar was now about building sports and saloon cars, making a profit from smaller production volumes.
Speaking at the Breakfast Connections event run by Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Birmingham Forward, and held at the Botanical Gardens, he said Jaguar wanted to be known as a luxury brand that happened to make cars.
There remained a great affection for it and a lot of goodwill towards the business.
For example, the XK sports model was “an emotional purchase rather than a rational one”.
Jaguar, he acknowledged, faced big challenges and was still behind some of its premier competitors. Perceptions were not all they should be – the XJ, with its aluminium body, was a technologically advanced car, but, because of its retro styling, some people though it to be low tech.
It is the next to be re-launched following the XK and the new XF and that would give the firm “three highly desirable cars”.
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