"Sometimes you have to think about the path that others have not taken, and you can't blindly follow it." Regarding Jaguar Land Rover and Chery's "resurrection" of the "Freelander" brand, Pan Qing, global director of Jaguar Land Rover and president and CEO of Jaguar Land Rover China, said in an interview on June 21.
A few days ago, Jaguar Land Rover and Chery Automobile signed a letter of intent for a strategic cooperation based on a 12-year partnership and mature joint venture, and the two parties intend to jointly promote a new cooperation model, aiming to further strengthen the product matrix of their joint venture Chery Jaguar Land Rover in China.
Pan Qing, Global Director of Jaguar Land Rover, President and CEO of Jaguar Land Rover China
In the future, Chery Jaguar Land Rover will launch and manufacture a series of electric products, equipped with Chery's electrification platform, using the "Freelander" brand authorized by Jaguar Land Rover.
As Pan Qing said, in the Chinese market, Jaguar Land Rover will build a new cooperation paradigm with Chery, and for Jaguar Land Rover, "this is a record event." ”
2024 marks the fourth year of Jaguar Land Rover's global strategy to reinvent the future, and the second year of the reinvention of four brands, with Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar becoming four separate brand families.
In the process, Range Rover, Defender and Discovery will continue to be the creator of Land Rover's most powerful all-terrain SUV, while the "Land Rover" business card will continue to be retained. Range Rover, Defender and Discovery will rely on Land Rover's original advantages to establish their unique brand personality and become three independent brands; The Jaguar brand will be reborn.
Pan Qing emphasized that under the grand strategy, Jaguar Land Rover is thinking more about where the market gap is outside the "new modern luxury", and how to really add in the Chinese market.
"Jaguar Land Rover has been particularly successful in the last few years, both imported and domestically produced. In the past few years, despite the challenges of external factors such as the new crown and chip shortages, Jaguar Land Rover's global performance has been very good, for example, the EBIT margin is an indicator, and few companies can achieve more than 8% in the past and current environment, but Jaguar Land Rover has done it. In the interview, Pan Qing said.
The importance of the Chinese market is undeniable in the strategy to reshape the future. But at the same time, Jaguar Land Rover realizes that the coverage of its products in the Chinese market is still far from enough.
"In the past few years, the coverage of Jaguar Land Rover products in the Chinese market has been about 10%, and as we continue to move in the direction of neo-modern luxury, I estimate that our market coverage is about 5%." Pan Qing said, "Why leave a 95% market gap? How can we do it to be able to truly add? I think that's very important. ”
Especially for the transition to electrification, Jaguar Land Rover already has its thinking.
In the future, Jaguar Land Rover will form three platform product lines: first, the large platform, that is, the MLA luxury electrification architecture, which is used in large vehicles and is compatible with pure electric, hybrid and fuel power; Second, the mid-size platform, namely the EMA luxury electric module architecture, serves medium and large vehicles and provides pure electric solutions. Third, JEA, the pure electric platform exclusive to future Jaguar models.
According to public information, the first all-electric Range Rover model based on the MLA luxury electrical architecture will be unveiled globally in 2024 and will also meet Chinese consumers in 2025. The all-electric Range Rover Sport will follow. The first Range Rover family electric model, built on the EMA platform architecture, will be available in 2025. Subsequently, the electrification products of the Defender and Discovery families will also be launched one after another. The first all-new Jaguar product will be a four-door GT all-electric model, built on Jaguar's proprietary electrification architecture, the JEA platform, and will be officially launched in 2025.
However, in Jaguar Land Rover's existing system, electrified products are still aimed at the luxury market, leaving a gap in the broader cost-effective, mid-to-high-end market, and the "Freelander" is aimed at this range.
The creation of the "Freelander" has become a new node opened by Jaguar Land Rover and Chery after 12 years of cooperation - the new "Freelander" will be a brand family, rather than a single product, and will be oriented to the mainstream market, and the new electric product line will be produced at Chery Jaguar Land Rover's Changshu factory.
"Build a new brand with each other's strengths." This is the consensus of both sides. Based on this, Pan Qing also explained in detail about the brand building of "Freelander" and the division of labor between the two sides.
At the technical level, the Freelander will be built on Chery's electric platform, "making full use of China's R&D capabilities, with the fastest speed and the best cost, as well as Chery's advantage of being closer to and more understanding of Chinese customers in the mainstream market." In the future, Freelander will be sold through exclusive channels independent of existing channels.
At the brand level, Jaguar Land Rover is responsible for contributing to brand building, "In terms of brand building, it must be that Western companies have their advantages and have a certain history and heritage. The Freelander was a Land Rover brand model that was a huge success in the market between 1997 and 2015 before being replaced by the Discovery Sport in 2016. When Freelander was launched in 1997, there were almost no luxury brand urban SUVs on the market. As a result, the Freelander sold 66,000 units in the same year, making it the number one seller in Europe in the segment, and its boundless spirit of innovation is in line with the technological innovation of the current new energy market.
At the design level, Jaguar Land Rover will help "Freelander" make a product with a soul, "Jaguar Land Rover can take the time and energy to really think about what the soul of a brand should be, what the soul of the design should be, and what the soul of the final product should be, so Jaguar Land Rover will try its best to achieve this aspect." ”
In addition, Pan Qing said that in the future, the "Freelander" produced and manufactured for the Chinese market will not be ruled out for export.
"Jaguar Land Rover and Chery, partners who have been working together for 12 years, have not been easy along the way - this is the same as family relationships, they will experience mutual adaptation, running-in, and challenges, but after a certain period of time, they will have tacit understanding, trust, and cooperation with each other, and they all know how to better achieve results and how to work hard for a common goal."
Regarding the cooperation between the two sides, Pan Qing said that compared with the term "post-joint venture era", the "post-oil car era" is more accurate. As Pan Qing said, "It is an equal cooperation model with the aim of achieving a win-win situation for both parties." "The cooperation between Jaguar Land Rover and Chery also opens a new chapter in the joint venture cooperation in the Chinese market.