Jaguar : XJ takes market lead in first full month on sale

Sales of the new Jaguar XJ, which arrived in dealers at the end of May, have helped Jaguar to a great sales result for the first half of 2010, along with a strong performance for XF and XK. In its first full month on sale, the XJ has taken the market lead outselling the Mercedes S Class and BMW 7-Series.

Geoff Cousins, Managing Director, Jaguar UK said: “Like the XF, 60 per cent of people that have ordered an XJ are new to the Jaguar brand, with owners of premium German brands proving to be the keenest to buy an XJ. This highlights just how well the XJ has been received among Britain’s leading businessmen.

‘The modern Jaguar showroom is now complete – with the new XJ joining the XF and XK in UK showrooms during May. We have got off to a great start, with more than 600 new XJs already on the road in the UK and customer deliveries now starting in earnest.”

Like the XF, 60 per cent of people that have ordered an XJ are new to the Jaguar brand, with owners of premium German brands proving to be the keenest to buy an XJ. This highlights just how well the XJ has been received among Britain’s leading businessmen.” Geoff Cousins, Managing Director, Jaguar UK

The XF continues to impress with a sales increase of nearly 50 per cent year to date and its thirteenth consecutive month on month improvement. In June 2010 the XF outsold all models of the Audi A6 and BMW 5-series. In the UK, 995 XF were sold in June 2010 compared to 884 the previous year, up 12.6 per cent. For the first half of the year, 6741 XF were sold in the UK up 47.6 per cent from 4567 sales.

Sales of the XK are also up 60.7 per cent in June with 188 cars sold compared with 117 last year. Year to date XK sales improved 22.5 per cent with 926 cars sold compared to 756 in the first six months of 2009. Overall, Jaguar has sold 8309 cars in the UK, a 42.5 per cent improvement on the previous year (on a like for like basis excluding the now discontinued X-TYPE).

[Source: Jaguar Cars Limited]

Clive Goldthorp

28 Comments

  1. The Germans should watch their backs. Audi, BMW and Mercedes may start losing their sleep as sales are stolen by Jaguar’s claws. Well done Jaguar as this is great news and the future’s bright. JLR are on a roll – besides the new Range Rover Evoque creating more jobs at Halewood, a rise in sales can create more jobs at Castle Bromwich and Soilhull as well.

  2. The XF and XJ look to be great cars but they are both too big in a world where lawmakers are legislating for lower CO2 emissions from cars. Jaguar need an X-TYPE successor with up to date styling and front wheel drive.

  3. This, coupled with the news that Jaguar will finally go ahead with the small RWD platform, makes me truly happy!

    The X351 is just in such a different league stylistically that the success is well deserved – let’s just all cross our fingers that there are no quality issues hidden somewhere in its high-tech aluminium monocoque body…

  4. What fantastic news for all involved. The XJ is a fantastic looking car which screams quality, with very bold styling for a traditionally conservative market. However, that looks set to pay handsome dividends and rightly gives the Germans something to think about. I’ll get my hands on one in about 10 years time when they eventually come within my price range!!

  5. @406V6
    Front wheel drive is not really an option for many who buy executive cars – this is why the 3 Series and C-Class out sell A4s. I do agree that Jaguar needs a model in this class to really compete with their competitors – but do they have the resources to do this?

  6. Not seen an XJ in the metal yet, but the pictures make it look very odd looking. However, if you look at the opposition from Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the XJ is different, distinctive and sporty. The only cars that get close are the Quattroporte and the new Aston Martin Rapide.

  7. I want an XJ. Lots… Enough, in fact, to have quite a few thoughts about it as a medium-term plan – I particularly like the interior design and technology.

    Having said that, the XJ makes me look at the XF again too.

  8. Of course, of course, as expected, Jaguar has got its mojo back… Delighted yes, surprised no! This is Jaguar going back truly to its roots. They were always about forward thinking cars that smashed the opposition… and the XJ has done it yet again.

    The launch of this car was timed to perfection. Jaguar gave the public just enough time for new people to see it and fall in love with it and to let it grow on the old guard – and it has grown on them. I just wish that the XJ took a better picture – I saw one in the metal and the pics really don’t do it justice.

    Turning to the X-TYPE replacement, I’m thinking shrunken down XF! Anyway, well done Jaguar… and long may the sales success continue – I’m sure it will!

  9. I’m not sure that FWD is essential for an X-TYPE replacement but a little more headroom is – I love my X-TYPE, but don’t like banging my head on the cantrails over sleeping policemen!!

  10. @406V6
    Have you seen the concept XJ Hybrid they’ve built? It’s a Petrol-Electric set-up developed with Lotus – 0-60 in 7.5 seconds and more MPG and less CO2 than a Prius, all for a reasonable cost. I don’t think Jaguar will have to worry about a smaller model if they can get something like that into production.

  11. The XJ is one of those cars that looks SO right on the road. I bet Ford are wondering whether selling JLR was such a good idea now – especially as they quickly got back to financial health…

  12. I have seen the X351 in the metal and it looks much better than any of the pictures that I have seen – that applies particularly to the rear end.

  13. Terrific news! It took a while for the XJ’s looks to grow on me, but I am glad to see the market has warmed to it – it is significantly different and much more modern than the 7 Series and S-Class. Well done Jaguar – let’s hope the X-TYPE replacement is just as distinctive!

  14. A nice car, the new XJ. My brother has recently bought an XF turbo diesel and that’s a nice car too! Nice looking and good build.

    I still think, though, that Jaguar should replace the X-TYPE with another saloon. I’m sure lots of buyers would prefer a more compact Jag as well…

  15. @406V6
    Not necessarily, there are other engineering solutions to making these beasts go – for a start their ‘green’ XJ with range extender will be a major hit – but remember the generator is using a conventional engine to charge the battery.

    I think we need to revisit history and the work Maurice Wilks was doing with jet turbine technology – certainly Rolls Royce is looking into power generation for hybrid cars as a bit of a side project… Can you imagine the efficiencies made in the Trent engine when applied to hybrid technology?

    Given that the engine is only turning a generator, not the wheels, a small turbofan will be much more efficient at high revs to produce electricity for storage in the battery. The engine doesn’t even have to run on conventional petroleum-based fuels.

  16. @Ross Armstrong
    Interesting comments – especially as the cost of making cell-powered cars is extremely expensive. They would need to find ways to reduce the heat impact as even a small turbofan produces high temperatures and gold is rather expensive at the moment!

  17. @Alex
    It’s a very delicate rebirth, though. The technology base is virtually non-existent and, as a piece of lateral thinking, the car industry needs to collaborate with other industries and universities in order to move progress on. The knowledge base here has been on the wane over the past 10 years and, until that knowledge base is restored, it’s going to be tough for Jaguar to be competitive around the world.

  18. I wasn’t so sure whether I liked the XJ until I saw one in white and with a black interior and 20″ alloys at RAC Cars B.V’s. Jaguar Dealership in Rotterdam… NICE 🙂

  19. Looks like Jaguar finally got it right – and, having seen the XF as a copmobile, it actually *still* looks good (or, at least, a hell of a lot better than the frankly vile Vauxhall Senator, that had all the road presence of a decomposing rhino and was bordering on illegal).

    The problem is – while they have got it right once – they have to get it right next time and the time after that… The thing that worries me about this car is that it’s almost too perfect – how do you follow up perfection? Put simply, you can’t…

  20. I think the only real question is: “if you can afford the good one, can you stretch to the Aston?” The spec I want is the 3.0 Diesel Portfolio, with wheels which are, apparently, only available on the Sport (despite being listed in the options) in the very dark green metallic with light interior. IIRC, that was about £70K. A lot of money, really, given what half that can get you and the almost unusable size of the XJ.

    It’s a good sign, though, that I want it regardless 😀

  21. That’s really heart warming – it’s about time that we saw something else on the roads in this top drawer end of the market. We only had a choice of the old hat XJ, the German clinical approach or, for the brave, the insipid Infiniti and Lexus with even less character and, like the old XJ, abysmal depreciation!!!

    True, Ford might have hung onto JLR and seen some (late) dividends on all the money ploughed into the two marques as the XJ was planned by Ford not TATA…as was the XF.

    However, as for the X-TYPE replacement, I believe that the style HAS to evolve further or take a different direction otherwise we will end up with the same “stigma” from the Ford era (and before it) with all the negativity it brought…

    Jaguar was always forward thinking when Sir William Lyons was at the helm (the 1968 XJ caused a stir back then, as did the XJS) then the spirit was diluted by BL et al, then Ford made the Cat look in the rearview mirror with the S and X-TYPEs looking old hat from day one and an XJ hardly any different for the last 35 years!!!

    THE CAT IS BACK today, may Tata keep up the pace…

  22. @Jemma
    I guess you have to do it differently – several iterations of the old XJ6 just lost their original (huge) appeal, whereas the new, very different, one looks fantastic and appears to be a roaring success.

  23. Glad to see we are giving the German Execubarges a kicking. This does not surprise me at all given the fairly recent, almost BL-esque, build quality of Mercedes Benz and the awful styling of the big BMW 7 Series. Oh, and as for Lexus, I’ll just say two words: ‘Alan Partridge’. Steve Coogan has a lot to answer for LOL.

    I reckon that, if the new 3 Series rival is as good as the XJ, BMW might well be needing fresh lederhosen LOL.

  24. @Marty B
    See, Lexus would have had me IF their cars weren’t so damned ugly. Apart from the original Soarers – and even those are an acquired taste and more appealing for the technology than the car itself – there hasn’t been a truly handsome Lexus. The big one is imposing in the way that an ill-educated bouncer is when Jaguar presented an Oxbridge Graduate who’d spent a while in the military and would kick anyone’s arse in a polite, discreet fashion. The little ones just lack finesse.

    Toyota is a fantastic company to deal with (on the whole) for the consumer. Indeed, when I got the C6, I nearly went with something from Toyota purely because the dealer was so great and the cars so reliable but cost-cutting on the Auris interior, the lumpy ride of the Prius and, essentially, the total lack of any cars that appealed to me put me off. The closest I could think of was the Lexus RX450h and I really do not want to be THAT person.

    Of course, my Toyota experiences were the Sera, MR2, Celica and Supra. The last Celica left me cold, the last MR2 was just too silly when compared to the MX5, the Sera had no follow up and ultimately all of those cars (unless you count the LF-A) were left without replacements.

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