Indian Car Blog – Carazoo.com

Jaguar Named “Number One Manufacturer” In U.K As Per J.D. Power Survey

According to 2012 UK Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study (VOSS), J.D Power and Associates and What Car?(J.D. Power’s media partner) has declared Jaguar as the “Number One Manufacturer” in UK.

The survey was conducted based on the evaluations of the data obtained from 18,000 individuals in the United Kingdom who are the proud owners of Jaguar and have been using the vehicle for an average of two years. The details regarding the performance, design, comfort, quality, reliability, cost of ownership, economy and dealer service satisfaction were collected and rated. The data was split into model line –ups which depicted Jaguar XF ’s rise of 15 places in just a span of 12 months.

There has been a steady rise in the owner satisfaction in the 2012 result, Jaguar was placed in the third position in the 2011 survey.

Chas Hallett, editor-in-chief, What Car?, commented: ‘This is a great accolade for everyone at Jaguar. This study shows that customers are really satisfied with their Jaguars, a hugely important feat for any car maker.’
Adrian Hallmark, Global Brand Director, Jaguar Cars, commented: ‘It’s tremendous to have such customer recognition of our commitment to delivering quality, technology and a world-class ownership experience. This is a huge accomplishment and a tremendous honour to achieve the Number One spot. Now we’re at this point, we will work with even greater energy to sustain this performance.’

Grant McPherson, Director of Operations, Jaguar Castle Bromwich, commented: ‘Every member of the Castle Bromwich team, including our suppliers, aims to exceed the expectations of our customers. This Award is fitting recognition of their outstanding efforts over the years. Quality is at the heart of the Jaguar manufacturing process and it’s encouraging to see we are headed in the right direction. We will continue to apply our focus on improvement and delivering premium quality products as we look ahead to the next Jaguar models to come onto the market, including the new XF Sportbrake and F-TYPE.’

The key factor in improving the likelihood to repurchase the same brand of the vehicle lies in achieving the service retention and loyalty towards its customers. The major drivers of service retention includes the following points: all of the work completed within the committed time, immediately able to speak to the service advisor, service provider completely focused on you and your needs, Jaguar has been able to achieve the customer satisfaction. Even in India,Jaguar continues to perform strongly, with an increase of over 140 per cent in Fiscal Year 2011/12.

posted by somdatta.basu @ Friday, June 1st, 2012 Comments Off links to this post

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June 9, 2011

BMW India sees competition from JLR

Jaguar-in-india
There was a time, not too long ago, when Jaguar and Land Rover brands were considered a liability and Ford Motors was desperate to do away with the two iconic British brands.

When no other car manufacturers wanted the loss making brands in their kitty, Tata Motors jumped the bus and bought the car brands. Even then, there were a lot of skeptics who were watching the Indian company’s moves. Tata Motors had already thought of its own international presence through these brands and just in a matter of couple of years after buying the brands from Ford Motors, turned Jaguar and Land Rover brands into a money spinning yarn.

Circa 2011, Tata Motors owned Jaguar Land Rover has come out with more and more customer tempting models. The Richie rich of the world who had earlier pledged their loyalty to the German luxury carmakers are making a beeline in front of the Jaguar Land Rover showrooms.

This presence of the erstwhile loss making car brands in India had made the big Germans to get back to the drawing boards to come out with more feature spruced new car models. In a way, the big Germans who had no real competition in the car world have now started to feel the heat from an Indian car manufacturer run British marques.

In a recent event, BMW India President Andreas Schaaf referring to JLR said, “It would be wrong if I say it’s not a competition. It’s certainly a competition.”
However, Mr Schaaf, when asked by the reporters present in the event if Tata Motors had a better dealer network compared to BMW in India, stated, “I would not agree with your statement that they (Tata Motors) have a better network.”

Tata Motors is a winner in every sense as its new found fame of being a player in the luxury car segment in India through JLR is very much appreciated and assembling the British marquee in India will give an advantage to Tata Motors to compete with other luxury car rivals. JLR, in the years to come will have more demand in the market compared to other brands.

posted by carazooblog @ Thursday, June 9th, 2011 Comments Off links to this post

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March 30, 2011

Koenigsegg Agera in India for 12.5 crore rupees

koenigsegg-agera
As we had reported earlier, Koenigsegg Agera, the Swedish supercar from Koenigsegg has been introduced in India with a sticker price of Rs 12.5 crore.

Koenigsegg Agera is sold in India through Interglobe General Aviation‘s assistance, the company behind Indigo Airlines, a low-cost domestic operator. The cars would be sold directly to high networth individuals without any dealership network.

The sticker price of the Agera is a cool Rs 2 crore more than what we had earlier speculated.

“We will not set up dealerships but will sell these cars directly to owners that would be determined through our own database. We are dealing in a host of luxury products and would be retailing them directly to customers with complete service backup,” Nigel A Harwood, President & CEO of Interglobe Established Products, said. He, however, refused to confirm any sales projections for the car in India.

Koenigsegg-Agera_2011 instrument cluster

The Agera, with 5-litre bi-turbo V8 engine, boasts of a pulsating 1115 horsepower, gains 100 km/hr speed in just 2.9 second can go past 400 km/h in just 3 seconds. Koenigsegg had earlier produced the CCR model that broke the nine-year-old Guinness World Record of the McLaren – Bugatti in 2005. Keeping the same lineage alive, Koenigsegg churns our limited set of around 16-18 cars every year out of its single manufacturing facility in Sweden. It tunes every car specifically for any particular country, after carefully studying the quality of fuel on offer in local conditions. For example, to meet the needs of its customers in Brazil, the company has developed a bio-fuel run Agera R model specific to that market.

Koenigsegg-Agera-

In addition to Koenigsegg, there is a range of other high-end brands Interglobe plans to launch in the Indian market. Other super cars like the Gumpert Apollo along with Nostalgia’s that are basically Jaguar replicas and the Deronda race cars would also be available though direct sales channels.

posted by carazooblog @ Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 Comments Off links to this post

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March 2, 2011

Land Rover reveals its FIRST FULLY CAPABLE 4WD PLUG-IN DIESEL HYBRID

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Land Rover’s on-going commitment to building vehicles that is more fuel and emissions-efficient reaches another milestone at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show with the first presentation of the Range_e. This development model is equipped with an advanced plug-in hybrid diesel-electric powertrain that Land Rover expects to make available in future production models, following the scheduled launch of its diesel-electric hybrid in 2013.

Range_e is based on the Range Rover Sport and uses the current 245 bhp 3.0-litre TDV6 diesel engine, working with an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission and a 69kW electric motor. Using a parallel hybrid system, with a 14.2kW/h lithium-ion battery that can be recharged from an external 240V power source, Range_e can be driven on electric power alone for more than 20 miles (32km), with zero harmful tailpipe emissions.

A full recharge from a standard domestic power supply can be accomplished in around four hours. Typically the majority of European car drivers cover less than 25 miles (40km) a day and therefore the EV range offered by this technology will support the majority of short urban journeys, where fuel economy and emissions are of prime concern. However, for longer journeys the diesel hybrid drivetrain will engage and continually optimise CO2 emissions.

range_e_electric_hybrid_range_rover_sport-side front

Overall CO2 emissions are just 89g/km, yet Range_e has a maximum system output of 339PS and a top speed of around 120mph (193kph), delivering a fuel economy of 85mpg (3.36 l/100km). Improved fuel efficiency from the hybrid system makes 690 miles (1,112km) possible on a full tank of fuel.

Range_e is also engineered with the same full 4WD capability as the standard Range Rover Sport, with high and low range in the transmission, front and rear differentials and a mechanical locking centre differential. Dependant on the driver demand, the car’s intelligent system decides the most efficient method to deliver the power required, whether this is by electric, diesel or both. The Range_e also features regenerative braking to capture energy usually wasted in heat energy via the brakes. This energy can then be redeployed to drive the vehicle, further reducing fossil fuel consumption.

John Edwards, Land Rover global brand director, said: “This system is the first example of a premium plug-in hybrid that also provides the full four-wheel-drive capability that you would expect from a Land Rover. It is an evolution of the production intent diesel-electric hybrid technology which will be launched in our next generation of SUVs and will be available for customers within the next two years.”

The Range_e is one of a number of Land Rover projects supported by the UK Government’s Technology Strategy Board and five prototype models are currently engaged in a test programme with Land Rover’s fellow members of the CABLED – Coventry and Birmingham Low Emissions Demonstrators – consortium. Land Rover anticipates its plug-in hybrid system will be brought to market in the near future, following on from the debut of its first standard diesel-electric hybrid models from 2013.

7d279_Range-Rover-Range_side rear

Pete Richings, chief engineer hybrids, said: “We started the Range_e fleet trial in December 2010 and we have so far covered 12,000 miles on the trial between the five test vehicles. We are gathering invaluable real world data that will enable us to refine the technology ahead of introducing a production vehicle.”
Land Rover continues to recognise the need to work on all aspects of our CO2 footprint such as reducing weight, reducing mechanical losses and increasing powertrain efficiency and our hybrid technology represents one part of the research and development journey.

Jaguar Land Rover is committed to spending £800 million on environmental technologies and has targeted a 25 per cent reduction in its fleet average CO2 emissions between 2008 and 2012.

posted by carazooblog @ Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 Comments Off links to this post

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February 16, 2011

Tata Motors ventures into motorsport with “Tata Motors Full Throttle”

Tata Motors, the Indian automotive giant, which owns super brands such as Land Rover and Jaguar, now has announced its foray into the world of racing by launching the “Tata Motors Full Throttle”. Indian automakers like Mahindra and Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Volkwagen India and a few more already have their own racing units, while most of the car makers around the globe are involved in motorsports, which again is the best way to promote the brand.

It must be recalled that Tata Motors had earlier participated in several non-competitive international rallies such as the London Capetown rally in 1998, ASEAN rally in 2005 and the SAARC rally in 2007 with the Safari sports utility vehicle. Both the Safari and Xenon cars, a 4×4 lifestyle pickup, have also been driven in various rallies in the past by independent participants.

Tata Safari rally

Tata Motors, as part of this new initiative, will field a team of two Tata Safaris and two Xenon XT cars to participate in the forthcoming ‘Desert Storm Rally’, beginning on February 22 from Ahmedabad. After this, the team from Tata group will later on participate in other motorsports events in India such as the ‘Raid De Himalayas‘ in their quest to become a regular on the racing circuit.

“With best in class technologies in our product range, we will now be able to showcase these technologies through Tata Motors’ ‘Full Throttle’. The platform will help the company in organising and synergising all efforts and activities in the area of motorsports including development and testing,” said R Ramakrishnan, vice president, Commercial Passenger Car Business Unit, Tata Motors.

“The participants from Tata Motors in the Desert Storm Rally are all experienced drivers with enough experience of racing in India behind them. We are confident of a good show in the rally as well as other racing events to be organised later,” Ramakrishnan added.

“Our participation will also help in better understanding the capabilities of our products (cars) on display. At the same time, our purpose to get involved with the motorsport events in the country will also be fulfilled,” said S G Saxena, Head, Utility Vehicles, Tata Motors.

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It is a good decision by Tata Motors to get into motor racing activities, as a lot of technology that will be used in the racing circuits can be imbibed in the production cars.

posted by carazooblog @ Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 Comments Off links to this post

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January 28, 2011

Iconic Jaguar E-Type to Celebrate its 50th Anniversary in Style

Jaguar -xk-
We have written about the Jaguar E-Type a number of times in our different articles, but this time around, it is something very very special. This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most famous and desirable cars in the automotive history – the Jaguar E-Type. The straight-six engine featured in the Jaguar E-Type brought five Le Mans victories in the 1950s.

The British car brand, which is owned by Indian car manufacturing giant Tata Motors, would celebrate this special anniversary year at high-profile motoring events throughout 2011. Jaguar will mark the anniversary at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show and go on to celebrate at Goodwood’s Revival and Festival of Speed, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the Nurburgring Old Timer Grand Prix and a host of Jaguar customer, dealer and lifestyle events worldwide.

The Jaguar E-Type, when launched in 1961, stood apart from the crowd owning to the inherent rightness of its proportions, stance and purity of line. Not surprisingly it is a permanent exhibit in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The car’s influence is still apparent in Jaguar’s modern range.

“Half a century of progress has not diminished the significance of the E-Type. It was a sensation when it was launched, and remains Jaguar’s most enduring and iconic symbol. The E-Type is simply one of the most exciting cars ever created and a legacy to the genius of Jaguar’s founder, Sir William Lyons,” said Mike O’Driscoll, Managing Director Jaguar Cars and Chairman Jaguar Heritage.

The Jaguar E-Type has adorned the garages of such famous people as George Best, Brigitte Bardot, Tony Curtis and Steve McQueen. It was such a handsome car that even Enzo Ferrari admitted it was “the most beautiful car in the world.”
“It is impossible to overstate the impact the E-Type had when it was unveiled in 1961,” said Ian Callum, Jaguar Design Director. “Here was a car that encapsulated the spirit of the revolutionary era it came to symbolise. The E-Type is a design that even today continues to inform the work we do in styling the Jaguars of the future.”

When the Jaguar E-Type was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1961, it caused a sensation. Capable of achieving 150mph, but costing much lesser than the price of rivals with similar performance, it was the affordable supercar and became an instant hit with the masses – remaining on sale for 14 years.

The E-type remained in production for 14 years, selling more than 70,000 units, making it Europe’s first mass-produced sports car.

posted by carazooblog @ Friday, January 28th, 2011 Comments Off links to this post

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December 28, 2010

Jaguar Land Rover combo wins more than 80 awards in 2010

landrover-discovery-4
Jaguar Land Rover, the British brands now owned by Tata Motors is on a roll. The brands have created a sort of record by winning over 80 international awards in 2010. Land Rover’s Discovery 4 won about 28 awards globally in 2010 taking the awards toll to 144 since its inception in 2004.

“The Discovery 4 offers an exceptional breadth of capability. It is now one of the most highly-decorated vehicles ever and we are thrilled that it continues to receive such great recognition across the industry”, exclaimed Mr John Edwards, Brand Director of Land Rover who was more than elated at the grand success of the Discovery 4.

As if the above-mentioned award count was not enough for Land Rover, the readers of UK version of Autocar magazine also voted Range Rover as the “Car of the Decade”. In the same poll, Range Rover Sport also shone out bright by laying claims to the winner of Best 4X4 category and Freelander 3 bagged the “Best Compact SUV” award.

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Jaguar with its all- new super cool sedan, the Jaguar XJ also pitched in the awards galore winning the best design award along with 20 other international trophies including Best Luxury Car award in countries like China, UK, Germany, Italy and US.

Tata Motors, since they took over these twin British brands in 2008 from Ford Motors, have revived the brands and has made them a winning combo from the erstwhile loss making liability.

posted by carazooblog @ Tuesday, December 28th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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December 23, 2010

Jaguar planning crossover SUV

jaguar_logo_XF
Jaguar which has seen a lot of ups and downs over the years is on a roll now since Tata Motors took over the ailing brand along with Land Rover. Now that Tata is at the helm of affairs, both the Jaguar and Land Rover brands have seen an uphill revival.

After Land Rover came out with its radical yet modern Evoque concept, which has already hit the production lines, it is the turn of Jaguar to do some unthinkable things. It seems like Jaguar is taking the Porsche route to success. After creating cars that has been appreciated and revered by critics and fans alike, Jaguar is now planning to come out with its own SUV. How cool is that?

According to Autocar, Jaguar is considering adding an SUV model to its lineup and the model may soon get the green light for production. The news gets wings in the form of a comment that was quoted in the British car magazine. Jaguar’s new global brand Chief Adrian Hallmark in an interview with Autocar had said, “We need a crossover and we need to stop being a saloon-based [sedan] company.”

Hallmark also said that the company needed to develop all-wheel drive saloon/sedans in order to appeal to more consumers, particularly in the regions of the East Coast in America and parts of Europe.

The Jaguar boss added that the British automaker would be building lightweight vehicles, hinting at the use of aluminum in the construction of Jaguar models. Hallmark said that lightweight cars would be part of the company’s “future DNA.”

jaguar-suv_rendering

He also confirmed that an XF wagon/estate model was coming soon too, one that will account for a fifth of XF sales.

Now Jaguar, bring it on… we are waiting in line for your future products. Currently Jaguar retails XF and XFR sedans and XKR coupe and convertibles in India.

posted by carazooblog @ Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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November 10, 2010

Jaguar and Land Rover sales drive Tata’s profits

Tata Motors Ltd on Tuesday said that quarterly profit soared, topping forecasts, on robust sales in its home market.

Riding on the improved demand for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands, Tata Motors has seen its profits soar. Tata Motors, India’s largest truck and bus maker, reported a consolidated net profit of 22.23 billion rupees ($502 million) for the fiscal second quarter ended September 30, from 220 million rupees in the year-ago quarter. Sales in India climbed by 35% in the quarter, but it experienced even bigger growth in China and Russia.

Tata Motors, whose products include utility vehicles, cars and the ultra-cheap Tata Nano, is seeing a surge in demand within the country amid rapid economic growth, while its British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover have also seen strong sales in Europe.

Since its inception to the Indian market in March 2009, around 70,000 Nanos have been sold. The world’s cheapest car with a price tag of 1 lakh plus is one of the important products of the Tata conglomorate.

Last month Tata reversed a decision to close one of its manufacturing plants in the UK because of the pick-up in sales. On the contrary, Tata Motors is also planning to hire new workers in Britain to counter with the surge in demand for cars from its Jaguar and Land Rover division. JLR brands was bought in 2008 from Ford by the Indian giant.

India is one of the world’s fastest growing car markets with home-grown vehicle makers, as well as those which have teamed up with foreign partners, benefiting from the country’s rapid economic growth. Shares in Tata Motors, valued at about $15 billion, have surged 60 percent so far this year, compared with a near-20 percent rise in the main index and a 39 percent gain in the sector index.

posted by carazooblog @ Wednesday, November 10th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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October 25, 2010

JLR Launches Armoured Vehicles Range at Rs 4.75 Crore

Land-Rover-Discovery Tata owned British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover have launched armoured SUV models in India. JLR has launched armoured variants of Range Rover and Discovery models, priced at Rs. 4.74 crore and Rs. 3.75 crore respectively. Later the company also plans to bring the armoured version of Jaguar Sentinel XJ in the Indian market. The stunning Jaguar Sentinel XJ was a showstopper at the 2010 Moscow Auto Show and will be soon launched in India with an expected price of Rs. 5 crore.

“The armoured vehicles market is a very niche segment and we don’t want to leave it out. We are launching these vehicles in India so that we have the complete range of offerings here,” said Rohit Suri, head of Tata Motors’ Premier Car Division. The global market of armoured vehicles is pretty sizeable with annual sales of 15,000 units, but the Indian market for armoured vehicles is in its infancy. “We have just started exploring the market, we know there is some potential but it will be too premature to put a number on how many armoured vehicles we intend to sell in India,” Suri said.

JLR luxury brand is currently expanding its presence in India and will open up at least 8-9 dealers in the country including cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi and Kolkata. The British brand will take help of parent company Tata Motors for assistance in areas like logistics and service support.

“With expansion of our network and products, we will gain further volumes here,” he said. The company is in the process of ramping up dealerships in India, apart from looking at local assembly of some of the Land Rover models.

“We would be expanding to newer cities and this should give us a wider spread. We are currently present at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Ludhiana and plan to end this fiscal with about eight to nine dealerships.”

The company is also planning to start the local assembly of Land Rover which will lower the price of the product and give it a very competitive edge. The local assembly is likely to start next year. According to reliable sources, Tata Motors will assemble the Freelander 2 in India, which is currently the lowest-priced Land Rover model here and has an ex-showroom price tag of Rs 33.5 lakh in Delhi. Local assembly will see the cumulative duties on the model going down by around 50%, bringing down its cost by a few lakh of rupees.