Jaguar Land Rover China (JLR) showcased a line-up of new debuts at Auto China 2020 in late September, including Discovery Sport P300e and I-PACE, demonstrating a clear strategic direction to further expand its portfolio in new energy sectors and provide products and services that can meet the diverse needs of consumers.

Richard Shore, president of Jaguar Land Rover Integrated Marketing Sales and Service (IMSS) Photos: Courtesy of JLR

As a pioneer in the development of electrification of luxury car brands, JLR has laid a solid foundation for the implementation of new energy strategies in the global and Chinese markets.

Richard Shore, president of Jaguar Land Rover Integrated Marketing Sales and Service (IMSS), said that the luxury electric car market has grown more slowly than previously predicted over the past two years. But the entire market, including the various car companies, firmly believe that electric vehicle (EV) development is a future trend.

"There will be more and more plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and in the future there will be a gradual transition to pure EVs. Although the change is bound to be difficult to estimate, I believe that as time goes by, more and more luxury new energy vehicles will enter the market. The development and growth of this market segment is very natural," said Shore in an interview.

In the future, JLR will introduce more models of PHEVs and EVs. Jaguar's first EV in China's luxury SUV market was the I-PACE, putting Jaguar at the forefront of electrification. And the company will continue to promote the development of electrification, according to Shore.

JLR debuted some new models of EVs during the Auto China 2020, including the Land Rover New Discovery Sport P300e, Range Rover Sport and Jaguar I-PACE. The new P300e will be officially put into production at the Changshu Intelligent Manufacturing base of JLR in East China's Jiangsu Province.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, JLR still has plans to launch new products before the end of 2020, Shore revealed.

"The luxury car market rebounded strongly after COVID-19 outbreak in China. I believe the trend will continue through the end of 2020 and into 2021, regardless of the impact of the second outbreak in other parts of the world," Shore noted.

A Range Rover Fifty at Auto China 2020 in Beijing in September

Henry Zhu, deputy president of Jaguar Land Rover China and Chery Jaguar Land Rover Integrated Marketing Sales and Service (IMSS), attributed this good foundation of market growth to the effective containment of the epidemic by the Chinese government.

Retail sales of JLR for the quarter ending September 30 in 2020 went up over 50 percent from the prior quarter. Sales in China were particularly encouraging, up 14.6 percent over the previous quarter and up 3.7 percent year-on-year. The month of September also saw sales rise 28.5 percent year-on-year in China, according to the fiscal results of JLR released on October 5.

China is one of JLR's key regions, according to the JLR website. "It is a challenging market right now. But we are on a good track to improve our performance, with a lot more potential for our business," said Felix Bräutigam, chief commercial officer of JLR.

JLR has allocated the production capacity in the first two months specifically for China after its factory resumed work, in a bid to ensure the delivery of new Land Rover Defender for Chinese users, according to Zhu. The new model has received more than 3,000 orders in two months after its release, indicating strong market feedback.
Newspaper headline: EV era comes