Würzburg/Germany, 30 April 2007
With the launch of its sporty C-XF which is planned for May 2008, Jaguar is hoping to swim to safety on the German market, according to an interview with the managing director of Jaguar/Land Rover Deutschland GmbH in Germany, Jeffrey L. Scott, published in the latest issue (no. 18) of »kfz-betrieb«, the specialist magazine for the German car trade. „But until then we still have a difficult year ahead in 2007,“ Mr. Scott continued. He is expecting to see sales of some 3,300 cars, which would constitute a decrease of more than 920 compared to the previous year’s sales. In citing reasons for this, Mr. Scott names the fact that Jaguar’s successful S-type car is now being phased out.
The company’s managing director regards the situation in Germany for its Land Rover segment in a more positive light. For this segment, he is expecting to see a sales volume of 9,000 Land Rovers in the current year. Improved availability of new types of car is intended to contribute to this anticipated success: for example, the Freelander (market launch on 5 May 2007) and the Defender (launch on 12 May 2007). Moreover, Jaguar/Land Rover intends to score high points by offering its customers „services fit for a king“. Jeffrey L. Scott puts it this way: „We have introduced what we call our royal service programme for our Range Rover and Range Rover Sport ranges and also for the new Jaguar XJ.“ That means that the purchase price already includes all inspections and wear and tear parts for the three-year guarantee period or – in the case of the Range Rover Sport range – for mileage up to 60,000 kilometres.
The difficulties encountered by Jaguar/Land Rover in 2007 follow what proved to be a successful year in 2006. The comparative prior year was in fact even record-breaking for Jaguar traders, with new car registrations up twelve percent. Land Rover dealers were able to achieve an average three-percent increase in their profitability in 2005 and 2006.
»kfz-betrieb« is published by Vogel Auto Media, Würzburg/Germany and is the most widely read specialist magazine in the German car trade, celebrating its 95th anniversary in 2005 and fulfilling the role of official publication of the German vehicle trade association (ZDK), which represents the interests of over 40,000 car dealer businesses and repair garages.
If you have any queries, please feel free to contact:
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