Jaguar Land Rover is embarking on a multi billion dollar investment plan as it seeks to build Middle East market share
Robin Colgan, managing director of Jaguar Land Rover MENAP (Middle East North Africa and Pakistan), is in the enviable position of heading up two of the most exciting and respected luxury brands in the region. Third-quarter sales are back to pre-recession levels, and the region represents the brands' fifth largest market in terms of retail sales.
Al Tayer Motors, Jaguar Land Rover's exclusive UAE importer-dealer, which in 2010 recorded the highest number of unit sales for Range Rover worldwide, announced an almost 20 per cent aggregate sales increase for Jaguar and 11 per cent for Land Rover, compared with the same period last year. This was led by the Land Rover LR4 (57 per cent increase) and Jaguar XJ (89 per cent).
The region's significance to the Land Rover brand, forged over 60 years, is reflected in the fact that its vehicles are tested in the region, where the iconic British marque now plans to increase its network of sales and service outlets by 33 per cent over the next 24 months. The company also recently expanded into Azerbaijan and introduced the Jaguar brand into Iraq.
Colgan, with over 15 years experience at Jaguar and Land Rover internationally, underscores both the synergy and competitiveness between the brands, which have separate commercial/marketing teams.
"The challenge ultimately is to try to benefit from the collaborative opportunities between the brands. These are two luxury brands that complement each other. Sometimes an element of conflict can be healthy," he tells The Gulf.
"Competitiveness becomes apparent when each product team has to take up a case with the board in relation to funding. This becomes almost a stress test for each individual product, ensuring a rigorous business case can be evaluated. A big part of my job is trying to achieve a balance on such decisions and the due processes involved. We also need to monitor demand and shortfalls while carefully predicting future opportunities," he says.
In 2009 Jaguar introduced the first XF luxury sports models, following the successful launch of the Ian Callum-designed XK in 2006. With the later introduction of the flagship XJ, the brand had undergone an emphatic renaissance. Colgan says significant investment from India's Tata enabled Jaguar to re-invent the brand by looking at the values and heritage Jaguar stood for: contemporary, luxurious, stylish and fast. He notes that these inherent qualities, combined with the latest design and technology innovations, enabled Jaguar to introduce "a very desirable line up" to the market.
"Being a design architect, [Tata Group chairman] Ratan Tata has been very much hands on in Jaguar's resurgence, as it is almost a labour of love that he contributes both with his design literacy but also with his astute business acumen and faith in the brand," he says.
At the recent Dubai International Motor Show, Jaguar Land Rover showcased for the first time in the Middle East the Land Rover DC-100 and Jaguar C-X75 concepts. Both sat alongside the latest 12MY line-up for Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover including the Jaguar XF, XKR-S and XJ, Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, LR4, LR2 and the Range Rover Evoque, the newest addition to the family.
Globally, Jaguar Land Rover retail sales grew 26 per cent in September 2011, buoyed largely by record growth in China of 157 per cent for Jaguar and 85 per cent for Land Rover.
Such results make good reading for UK industry, as the Company has announced plans to recruit more than 1,000 staff at its advanced manufacturing plant there. These posts are being created in support of the business's stated ambition to deliver 40 significant product actions over the next five years, achieved via a 1.5 billion pound ($2.3 billion) annual injection of funds.
This will keep Colgan busy.
"We continue to experience strong sales in MENAP. In 2012 we anticipate further growth with our strongest and most comprehensive line-up yet, including the Range Rover Evoque and Jaguar XKR-S. The Evoque has already attracted over 32,000 advance orders worldwide, the majority of customers being new to the Range Rover brand," he concludes.
© The Gulf 2012
