Jaguar gets ready to roar

The XK convertible features a safety device to protect pedestrians.

The new Jaguar XK has arrived in New Zealand with a job to do: rekindle interest in the British brand and lure customers back into showrooms.

If it succeeds, those customers will find Jaguar has moved away from the volume side of the luxury market and into the go-fast arena.

The carmaker is the first stage of a plan to establish itself as the leading high-performance luxury brand in New Zealand.

"In time," says Wallis Dumper, the managing director of Jaguar importer Motorcorp Distributors, "I want to be in a position where we import only 'standard' models to special order, as New Zealanders begin to recognise Jaguar as the highest specification, performance and value in the luxury class. This is a complete reversal of the scenario we exist in today."

Dumper says Jaguar will launch a new line-up over the next few years based around premium "R" models, dynamic go-fast offerings whose supercharged V8 engines offer considerably more power than standard six- and eight-cylinder units.

"The new XK coupe and convertible are the first of these models," he says. "The XK is setting a new direction for Jaguar. Next year we will add an XKR model with even more performance.

"We plan to specialise in that area of the market, thus avoiding the almost commodity status of some luxury cars. At the moment, we only import the R models to special order. They sell as soon as they arrive in the country.

"It's an area we can fit into. Our pricing will not be in the same bracket as equivalent high-performance models from our German rivals. We believe there is a gap in the market actually created by the German marques that Jaguar R can fill."

A typical R model uses a supercharged 4.2-litre V8 engine producing 298kW (400bhp). A standard Jaguar V6 engine develops 179kW (240bhp).

Dumper says the future R range will be complemented by high-performance diesels, the first of which, the S-Type diesel, will be launched this year. A diesel XJ sedan will follow later.

"These will also be comprehensively equipped cars," he says. "Jaguar has had considerable success in recent years in marketing its high-performance diesel models into Europe, where sales of diesel-engined cars are made in large volumes."

Dumper says Jaguar has had a difficult time competing with the German brands in "the standard luxury sector" of the market.

"They are forced to discount and sell on volume because of factory production pressures," he says. "We want to get away from that, even if we sell fewer cars."

He says the new brand direction would protect current models - their replacements will come on to the market at higher cost in the high-performance luxury niche of the market.

Jaguar also plans to extend its reach outside main cities Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch with service and parts outlets in Dunedin and Hawkes Bay.

"We want to improve the customer experience by means of making back-up for Jaguar more accessible away from the four main centres," says Dumper.

The XK carries on its sleek body much of Jaguar's short-term fortunes.

Parent Ford's ambitions (Ford bought Jaguar in 1989) to fashion it into a worldwide luxury rival for Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Lexus have fallen flat, with sales of its major models ending up far short of expectations.

As a result, Jaguar discarded plans to build 200,000 cars a year. Production fell below 100,000 last year for the first time since 2000, the year before the X-Type was introduced. Now the British luxury brand's goals are more modest.

Industry analysts say new Jaguar CEO Geoff Polites, the former marketing boss of Ford of Europe and managing director of Ford Australia, must decide which Jaguar models to keep and which to discard. He is expected to restructure Jaguar's global network along the way.

The industry says future Jaguars will have to share more components and vehicle architectures with other Ford brands because Jaguar's low volume doesn't justify unique platforms.

A crossover vehicle - an all-wheel-drive mix of the Mercedes-Benz M-Class and R-Class, or Audi Q7 and Allroad, if you like - that Jaguar dealers have been screaming out for is expected to arrive within three years. It has been suggested that it will replace the under-achieving X-Type sedan.

Like the Jaguar XJ, the XK - the most technologically advanced Jaguar ever made, says the company - is built on a strong, all-aluminium monocoque structure.

But Jaguar dropped plans to build the next S-Type on an aluminium base. Instead, it will save money by re-engineering the current steel car.

The XK coupe and convertible introduce a new safety feature to the luxury market in New Zealand motoring - a deployable bonnet that automatically pops up a few inches near the windscreen to help cushion the impact of a pedestrian in a collision. It is called Jaguar Pedestrian Contact Sensing and has won a number of safety awards.

The XK coupe is priced at $214,990 and the convertible at $234,990. Both come with a three-year, 100,000km warranty, six-year anti-corrosion guarantee - and bells and whistles and safety equipment befitting the price.

The XK sits on 20-inch alloy wheels under a body that retains at the front end the oval grille of previous XK models. Suspension is a wishbone set-up.

Jaguar says the bodyshell of the convertible is 50 per cent stiffer than that of the previous soft-top. The coupe has a kerb weight of 1595kg and the convertible 1635kg.

Both models are powered by a naturally aspirated 4.2 litre V8 engine producing 224kW (300bhp) and 420Nm of torque. Drive goes to the rear wheels via a six-speed automatic gearbox with manual mode.

The engine meets the latest Euro 4 emission control standards and has exhaust gas recirculation and a semi-active exhaust system that allows the V8's delightful howl to escape at higher revs - on the way to 100km/h in six seconds and on to a highly illegal top speed of 250km/h.