Jaguar F-Pace bringing more female buyers to the brand

Jaguar Australia says the introduction of its first-ever SUV, the F-Pace, has seen a major shakeup of its traditionally male-dominated ownership structure for the British brand.

Speaking to CarAdvice at the launch of the new and also female-buyer-friendly Range Rover Evoque Convertible, the boss of Jaguar Land Rover Australia, Matt Wiesner, said the F-Pace has done exactly as the brand had hoped it would.

“We are glad to see what we were hoping was going to happen… we are seeing some female ownership which is fantastic because jaguar has been such a male-dominated brand for such a long time, so it’s great to see that.” Wiesner said.

Since its launch in July, Jaguar has delivered more than 550 F-Paces to Australian customers, with a heavy backlog of orders still to filter through. Wiesner says that plenty of those have been conquest sales.

“Dealers are seeing a heavy degree of conquest opportunity because it does sit quite nicely [between Range Rover Sport and Evoque].”

The appeal, according to Wiesner, is not only derived from Jaguar’s world-renowned designer Ian Callum’s work, but also the F-Pace’s overall package, which sees it offer something in between the likes of BMW X3 and X5, or Range Rover’s own Evoque and Sport.

“From the feedback we are getting it’s a combination of different things, design being a strong one. Also usable space – you look at cars in and around where it’s positioned and they are a little bit small.”

The British brand likens the F-Pace to the Porsche Macan in terms of driving dynamics, but with a more practical approach.

“F-Pace is a very different position from our perspective, it behaves and drives very differently to other offerings in the range.”

The challenge for Jaguar still remains consideration. With an ever expanding lineup, it’s now up to the brand to find its way onto buyer’s shopping lists, according to Wiesner.

“[We need to] make sure people understand what Jaguar is and what it USP (unique selling point) is, and we will continue to do that and get that right – and create a reason for people to make sure they have Jaguar on their shopping list and it is considered.”

So far in 2016, Jaguar has sold 2,452 vehicles, up 154 per cent from this time last year. The growth has come primarily from the introduction of the F-Pace and XE.

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