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Jaguar dealers concerned over possible Indian Ownership

From Karthik On 10 December 2007 View Comments

The Jaguar XKR, will this capture the American car buyers?
Image from Anantha

Over the weekend, we got a tip from our reader Annu, about U.S. Jaguar dealers expressing discomfort over an Indian Owner. Although my original post was geared towards a different set of ideas, I have taken it upon myself to answer this question.

The comment about the Indian ownership was made by Ken Corin, chairman of Jag’s national dealer council.

I don’t know that the United States consumer is ready to deal with a premium brand like Jaguar being owned by an Indian company, It has nothing to do with reality, I’m sure there is a reality that exists that is terrific. But when we think about India, we think about a Third World country and people going to work on their bicycles

As upset as I am about the bicycle part, the reality is that this is true. The media has never been too kind to third world countries. Slums and sweat shops form a big part of the media coverage, which in reality is not all that exists. But I get the point that Mr. Corin is making.

I also have to give him credit for acknowledging the fact that the idea might be terrific for Jaguar as a company.

In essence the point I am trying to make is that Jaguar dealers are not racist, they are merely business men, with a good understanding of the perception of what their customers might feel when it comes to ownership of the company.

The second question that needs to be answered is if Indian ownership will affect the sales of Jag.

As a company, Jaguar has been making mistakes. Gone are the days of the E-Type roadster and today the company’s “exciting” model is the X-Type. Although in terms of costs, it competes with the BMW 3 Series, The MB C Class, Inifiniti G35, I did not want to be seen driving around in an “old man’s car”.

Then there is the fact that ownership has no effect on the buyers mind. Case in point, Jaguar Sales in the UK. Brits are not big fans of American car’s and in most cases, rightfully so. The Mondeo was a rare hit. But this did not deter the sales of the Jag in the UK.

TTAC – Jag dealers are not racist.
Jag dealers association – Ask your company to make better cars, that is the answer.

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  • Runa
    The Time magazine has a very interesting article on challenges of perception faced by Indian business'- starting with the Jaguar deal- - you can read it here .I , for one, think its time for the West to take a more nuanced view of Indian business.
  • Both examples of successful Fords above (Mondeo and Euro Focus, from which the SVT derives a few choice parts/concepts) were designed in-house by Ford-of-Europe, who are substantially better respected (and for good reason, it would seem) than Ford-of-USA's design folks.

    Side note - both had significant Mazda input on suspension underpinnings and chassis design.

    Ford is finally getting smarter - concentrting on large-vehicle design, elaving smaller vehicles & engines almost entirely to Mazda & Volvo, along with Ford Europe.

    The Mazda 6 chassis underpins (well?) over 12 Ford/Lincoln/Mercury/Mazda products now :) And the variants of the 2.3l I-4 and the 3.0/3.5/3,7l V-6 Duratecs have substantial Mazda-of-Hiroshima input as well. Good for them, I say :)

    The Jag X-Type was an AWD Mondeo with a 3.0 old-school Duratec with a few really cool modifications.

    The S-Type was a souped up Lincoln Continental or LS or something of the sort.

    Blame Ford for messing up (entry-level) Jaguar - hopefully Mahindra etc will do better.
  • I saw this over at "The truth about cars" blog i think earlier today. I have to agree with you that it could be true. I mean, in spite of the fact that Toyota and Honda have a large part of their parts bin made in the US, they still are considered "imports". I read an article on the Sunday edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer in Cleveland (where I am languishing right next to the Ford engine plant) which had a comparison of this localization number (percentage of parts built/procured in the US). It was an eye-opener.

    But it is true that perception shapes reality. So if the general public perceives Indian owners of Jaguar as a turn off to the brand, it might end up that way.

    But to be honest, with Ford, slapping a Jag nametag on a Mondeo is not doing any help either. So I don't see it going any lower than it is now.

    Brits are not big fans of American car’s and in most cases, rightfully so. The Mondeo was a rare hit.


    I think you can add the SVT Focus to that list. I have seen at least a couple of episodes of TG where Clarkson has gone ga ga over the SVT Focus.
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