Jaguar Sees A Big Bounce While Major Brand Sales Slip In May

While the drop-off in May US auto sales swamped most major brands, comeback hungry Jaguar was among the few gainers, posting an 80 percent boost on the intro of the new F-Pace crossover SUV and the XE compact sedan models.

The storied brand has been the lagging partner in the Jaguar Land Rover company created when Tata Motors of India acquired both from Ford in 2008. While the combined company sales grew 26 percent last year, Jaguar actually lost sales.   

For 2016 Jaguar is getting good momentum from the intro of the new compact $35,000 sports sedan and the company’s first ever compact SUV the F-PACE starting at $41,000.

This gives Jaguar a prized five model line-up … sharing the stable with the newly redesigned mid-sized XF sports sedans, the big  XJ luxury sedan, and the awesome two-seat 575 horsepower F-TYPE sports car.

This gives Jaguar a wider market appeal than the $50,000 to $100,000 plus price range where they have been concentrated in recent years.

Of course when Ford did this with the less expensive S-Type and X-Type back in 1999 and 2001 … they expanded Jaguar sales but were accused of diluting the exclusivity of the brand.   

Interestingly the new Jaguar SUV is not a re-badged version of a Land Rover product, which would be logical since the Land Rover / Range Rover identity is all SUV.

In fact the new Jaguar XE compact sedan and the new F-Pace SUV share similar modified platforms and are getting positive critical reception in the motor press.

The Jaguar F-Pace SUV particularly is getting an enthusiastic reception. It competes with other high-end SUVs with a sporty 340-hp or optional 380-hp supercharged V-6 and is getting great reviews for handling thanks to a new rigid and lightweight aluminum architecture.