Ian Callum, director of design for Jaguar, discusses the new F-Pace at a press conference in Detroit on Sunday, January 11, 2015.Jordan Chittley/The Globe and Mail
For the past five years Canada has been one of the biggest growth markets for Jaguar Land Rover – with sales up more than 175 per cent – but North American chief Joe Eberhardt doesn't see that rapid pace continuing.
"Canada had a very good year," he told The Globe and Mail. "I think there will be continuous gradual growth, but not to the same degree that we've seen ... It would be pretty difficult to continue (at that pace)."
Eberhardt attributes much of the growth to the availability of all-wheel drive in Jaguars.
"Prior to that it was difficult to sell a Jag (in Canada). It was maybe a weekend car at best," he said.
Now the brand has a much higher appeal. "We seemed to have the right formula that appeals to North American customers."
Eberhardt expects flat growth in North America in 2015, but 2016 seems to be the year the company is shooting for, when the Discovery Sport and Jaguar XE will hit the market. The XE will be a small sedan aimed at a younger demographic and the company expects it to become Jaguar's best-selling vehicle.
Jaguar also announced it is going to make its own compact sport utility vehicle despite being part of the Land Rover brand. Eberhardt said the new F-Pace SUV will be based on the C-X17 crossover concept, but geared toward performance as opposed to the ruggedness of Land Rovers. It will compete with the Porsche Macan.
"We just received such an overwhelmingly positive response to the C-X17 concept car last year that we just had to make it a reality," said director of design Ian Callum in a statement.
The F-PACE didn't make the trip to Detroit because Callum said they are still working on it.
JLR, like almost every other auto maker, is pushing fuel efficiency, but it isn't doing it with hybrids. The company sees diesel as the way to go. It is going to make an optional diesel engine available on all of its vehicles in North America.
"No one knows how this (gas prices) is going to turn out," Eberhardt said. "But we are 100 per cent committed to offering our customers more choice for increased fuel efficiency and we strongly believe this is what our customers want, regardless of fuel prices."
Like us on Facebook
Add us to your circles
Sign up for our weekly newsletter