British iconic brand Jaguar all set for face-lift

NEW LOOK: Jaguar is now donning the image of a modern, stylish and trendy car maker.

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Keywords: New Launch, Image Change

Mumbai: Jaguar is changing. British iconic brand is working hard on changing it's conservative image and the to be launched XF is a strong attempt in that direction.

After getting beaten by rivals like Mercedes Benz, BMW and Audi, Jaguar is now donning the image of a modern, stylish and trendy car maker to take them on. And the XF, which will replace the S-type tells that, atleast in terms of design. The S-type was competing with the likes of Mercedes Benz E-class and BMW 5-series.

But now, the XF is expected to draw the younger customers something that the S-type was not quite successful at. Peter Grunert, deputy editor of British motoring magazine Top Gear is one of the very few who has seen the car in flesh and blood.

Grunert says, “It's a car that somebody arguably in their 30s such as myself could begin to identify with. It was not talking about the past although Jaguar has an amazing heritage. It's a little cruel but Jaguar is conservative and old fashioned. It's fighting very hard to reinvent itself. We first saw it in the XK coupe. XF is a new dawn.”

And to back that claim, analysts expect new customers even in Asia, to open up for Jaguar with the XF, which will be launched on September 11 and will go on sale in the UK from March 2008.

Jaguar's X-type did not perform as expected. And one of the reasons was that people knew that it shared a lot with the Ford Mondeo, which did not enjoy the same brand equity.

But now Jaguar, or rather Ford, is playing a smart game.

It is rolling out products with sharp modern design and technology to attract customers and more importantly attract buyers to pay a better price than they would without these new offerings. Jaguar claims car like the XF is its future.