DRIVING SNOW

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. That’s my new favorite song right now, writes Lindsay Duffield, President, Jaguar Land Rover Canada.

Never before in our company’s history have we been this prepared for the challenges of winter. When they tell me ‘the weather outside is frightful’, I say ‘bring it on’.

That’s because we have a remarkable new line-up of weather-beating Jaguars and Land Rovers arriving in our showrooms. Jaguar XF and XJ vehicles with Instinctive All-wheel Drive™, an all-new Range Rover, and a new turbocharged Land Rover LR2.

I can’t tell you how important these new all-wheel Jaguar vehicles are to our market. If you look at the competition, 89 percent of BMWs and Mercedes-Benz models sold here are with all-wheel drive. It’s the price of entry into the poker game and you simply can’t compete without it.

So, on the Jaguar front, we’ll go from competing in maybe 10 to 15 percent of the luxury car market, to 85 to 90 percent. That, for us in Canada, is huge!

What’s interesting is that the price of an all-wheel drive Jaguar XF or XJ is pretty much a wash when compared to a rear-drive version with a set of quality snow tires. Then there’s the bonus that all-wheel drive cars will have a higher resale value when it comes time to sell.

As for the all-new Range Rover, it’s already making its mark. It may have only just arrived in showrooms, but we’re proud to boast that sales in January were up 77 percent. We know that many of our most loyal Range Rover customers are waiting till spring for the arrival of the Autobiography model. We think a third or more of our Range Rover sales could be this $144,000 - that’s Canadian dollars - flagship model.

We’re excited too about the new Land Rover LR2. Not only does it have the same 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder that powers the Range Rover Evoque, but it has fresh exterior styling and a much-improved interior. Yet despite all this, we’ve been able to lower the price point to under $40,000 Canadian. That puts us in a really competitive segment of the market.

Of course we’re counting down the days till we get our first Jaguar F-TYPE models. We’ll be unveiling it for the first time in Canada at the upcoming Toronto auto show which opens to the public this Friday.

Despite our often-inclement Canadian climate, sports car sales here are extremely strong. Remember, we’re the fourth largest XK market in the world. We’re already seeing a great deal of interest in the F-TYPE from prospects, many of whom are driving competitive products.

These are truly exciting times for both Jaguar and Land Rover here North of the Border. This year we’re shooting for another record year as 2012 set a record with just under 5,000 retail sales. Since 2010, our sales have increased 50 percent and with the best product line-up in history, there is much excitement as we head into 2013.

So you’ll forgive me for not getting to upset when the weather man tells us there are plenty of snow days ahead.