Investment days for car manufacturers begin spy photos and leaked documents as the most frequent sources of unexpected information about future products. After Jaguar Landrover held a meeting with Wall Street last month, Automotive news discovered how far the English group wants to go in the market. JLR CEO Adrian Mardell, who left Bentley for his current job, referred to a “halo strategy” that, in AN’s words, “aims to increase sales of high-end, special edition models costing more than £1.5 million” in a new “halo strategy.” That’s a floor of $1.95 million US at current exchange rates, a barrier that few but the super-luxury and super sports car makers cross. McLaren’s The last Ultimate Series car, the Speedtail, was asking $2.1 million US before options, just like the Bentley Batur, we can expect Ferraris upcoming halo special to start even higher, and the Bugatti Mistral opens the bidding at $5.1 million.
Outside Jaguars Continuation models, we are not aware of any JLR products that come close to seven figures, let alone seven figures that start with a “2”. The 2015 Continued Lightweight E-Type started ten years ago with about $1.5 million, the 2016 Continuation XKSS2018 D-Type Continuedand 2021 C-Type sequel all asking around $1.4 million. If Jaguar Classic’s website is to be believed, a buyer would pay £1.75 million ($2.23 million US) can buy a Continuation D-Type indicating that the run of 25 cars has not yet sold out.
The Range Rover has done the biggest business with special editions to date, releasing seven copies of the latest Carmel edition (pictured above) last year at $371,175 per, and 20 units of Sadaf edition for the Middle East earlier this year at $415,000 per.
We may learn more about the plan when Jaguar shows off its electric concept later this year, recently rumored to be a four-door, four-seat GT. It will tease out Jaguar’s Electrified Architecture, basic specs of at least 450 horsepower, all-wheel drive and all-wheel steering, super-fast charging times, and what sort of future product Jaguar wants for its six-figure prices. Designs will be minimalist, heavy on touchscreens and sustainable materials, and light on rear windows; Coach says that none of Jaguar’s first three electric vehicles will have a tail light. Like the Pole Star 3The Jaguars will use “a digital ‘mirror’ at the base of the windshield.”
Speaking of Jaguar, when the automaker launched its F-Pace 90th Anniversary Edition — while we made it clear that F-Pace production would continue “for the foreseeable future” — we were led to believe that Jaguar’s global line-up would consist of the electric I-Pace, the E-Pace crossover And the XF sedan. A few days after that special edition of the F-Pace, Jaguar has announced its factory in Castle Bromwich had assembled the last examples of the F-Type, CAR sedan, and XF Sports brake. Automotive news reports Mardell told analysts that Jaguar would kill off everything but the F-Pace this year. Mardell didn’t give a timeline, but his comment that “none of those are vehicles we made money on” makes it sound like it could be sooner rather than later. In the most recent quarter, the F-Pace represented a third of Jaguar’s global sales, while Jaguar sales accounted for 14% of Jaguar Land Rover’s sales. Only three of the group’s models, the Range Rover, Range Rover SportAnd Defenderaccounting for 59% of group turnover.
The brand’s first electric production car will be the battery operated Range Roverwhich is also expected to debut before the end of the year.