"For Jaguar Land Rover, the high-end luxury SUV market, represented by Range Rover, is a battlefield that we must not lose. ”
In an interview after the "Range Rover Night" launch on April 12, Wu Chen, president of Jaguar Land Rover China and Chery Jaguar Land Rover's joint marketing sales and service organization, told the media, including the car company, so firmly. This is also the first anniversary of Jaguar Land Rover's new operations under four sub-brands, following the "Reinventing the Future" strategy. At the same time, Range Rover is positioned more luxuriously.
Looking at 2023, Jaguar Land Rover has achieved exciting results, with retail sales for the full year 2023 increasing by 25% year-on-year. Among them, the Range Rover brand increased by 31% year-on-year, the Defender brand increased by 59%, the Discovery brand increased by 14%, and the Jaguar brand increased by 23%. Range Rover continued its leading position in the SUV segment with an 11.4% increase in market share. This is also the reason why some people think that Jaguar Land Rover is the best case of getting out of involution.
For the electrification transformation plan, Jaguar Land Rover is also speeding up. The first Range Rover EV based on the MLA Luxury Electric Architecture will make its global debut this year, and next year will be available to Chinese consumers, followed by the Range Rover Sport EV. 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 electric model, built on Jaguar's exclusive electrification architecture JEA platform, which will be officially launched in 2025.
Clearly, not only has Range Rover found its rhythm in the Chinese market, but all four Jaguar Land Rover brands are evolving themselves under the guidance of the "rebranding" strategy on the road to "neo-modern luxury".
"Customization makes luxury more luxurious"
The price is 2.438 million yuan, limited to 15 cars in Chinese mainland, Academy Award Best Art Director Tim Yip helps, the scene is quite oriental elegance and does not lose the atmosphere of Western modern art, showing the blockbuster sense of "people and vehicles are one", the elegant cello sound sounded under the bamboo forest, accompanied by the smooth and artistic dance of the gold medal dancers, creating a luxurious and elegant atmosphere. In this atmosphere, the new Range Rover Sport SV EDITION ONE Limited Edition is clearly sportier and more luxurious.
At the "Range Rover Night" theme conference on April 12, in addition to the launch of the new Range Rover Sport SV Edition One Limited Edition, Wu Chen also announced: Following Abu Dhabi and Saint-Tropez, the global Range Rover brand experience platform "Range Rover Land" officially landed in China, with the first stop in Beijing, and will also land in the Greater Bay Area, East China and Southwest China within the year, covering core cities.
The so-called "customization makes luxury more luxurious" has been most vividly interpreted in the "Range Rover Realm". This global brand experience platform, which only adopts the "private invitation" method, is committed to the ultimate in "circle" marketing, with a new brand standard and a series of the purest luxury lifestyle, to deliver brand stories and unique experiences to valued customers, and release limited products.
Wu Chen also said that this part of the business will have a lot of room for development in the future, and will continue to deepen this year, including the network of dealers, as well as reorganizing the dealer network, personnel, stores, etc., which is the top priority of this year's work.
At the same time, the Range Rover SV Bespoke private bespoke business has also been officially launched in the "Range Rover Land", and the first Range Rover SV Bespoke private custom center will open in Beijing in the second half of this year, providing the ultimate luxury private bespoke service.
At that time, Bespoke will be able to offer more than 230 SV custom paint color options and 391 interior material and color combinations, plus a wide range of configuration options, for a total of more than 1.6 million different customization options.
As "Sense of Participation" said, "the ultimate is to drive yourself crazy first". Internally, Wu Chen requires the "ultimate" in three aspects: telling the story well, doing a good job of the brand, striving to open the door to SV's top private exclusive for customers, and solving every pain point in the customer journey. Only in this way can Jaguar Land Rover's pursuit of perfection be realized.
In addition to Range Rover, there are 1.2 million car owners in the world, 55% of whom are the guardians of the first generation of car owners, and the operation of its circle marketing is also a typical case worthy of a big mention in the past two years.
Last year, Jaguar Land Rover held a new brand campaign for the 75th anniversary of the Defender, "Warriors", which was also the first official Jaguar Land Rover owner gathering event. Car owners, media teachers, and 25~30 car owner clubs drove their own guards from all over the world to gather in Shangri-La, Yunnan.
What impressed Wu Chen was that the car owners talked a lot of their stories along the way, which was very touching. At the event, everyone sang and danced together, singing Xu Wei's song, and even Mark, the head of our global brand of Guardian, was moved. ”
Moreover, it is worth mentioning that compared to other brands, Defender has many very cohesive owner clubs. For example, last year, when a heavy rain landslide disaster occurred in Mentougou, a car owner club in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei spontaneously went to the rescue. After the online video was exposed, countless people were touched, and the news also tracked and reported on the incident.
In 2021, a flood broke out in Henan, and after seeing the news of the flood, a couple of Guardian owners went to the disaster relief without saying a word. "Guardian car owners have been taking the most difficult road to see the most beautiful scenery, and this product gives them this confidence, so they dare to go. ”
In addition, these car owners can also be seen in Jaguar Land Rover's public welfare activities to help Hope Primary School. They not only go together, but also spontaneously go to remote areas, explore and conquer the steep polar regions along the way, and pass on the love of public welfare.
We know that the spread of brand reputation lies in having a good story. The real stories of the owners of the Guardian not only moved people deeply, but also allowed the owners to gather together and burst out with huge positive energy.
Of course, a year after the "rebranding", Jaguar Land Rover is getting to know its customers better. For example, this year, Jaguar Land Rover has a goal to win more female customers, so that the image of the Guardian owner is no longer limited to "real men" or "female men".
Along the way, Jaguar Land Rover has attracted a more diverse customer base by emphasizing each brand's brand personality, brand 'sense of need' and brand appeal. "Everything is based on the needs of our customers. "The rebranded Jaguar Land Rover is gaining new strength.
"Hidden Treasures"
Some people will ask, why does Jaguar Land Rover make an experience platform like Range Rover?
That's because Jaguar Land Rover has found that Range Rover owners have a high demand for privacy and a tonality that fits the brand.
Correspondingly, Jaguar Land Rover has also kept pace with the times to deliver the brand story and unique experience to these valued customers with a new brand standard and a series of the purest luxury lifestyles, creating a unique "new modern luxury" lifestyle for them.
Moreover, the location of the first stop of the release is adjacent to the top of the Forbidden City, which is the best interpretation of "Range Rover Realm". The logic behind this is "we want to be the king of luxury, because this is the most high-end battlefield of Jaguar Land Rover, and we must not lose it." ”
At the same time, this year is the third year for Jaguar Land Rover to release the global strategy of "Reshaping the Future", and it is also the first year to release the "Rebranding".
Wu Chen said that the first is internal reform. The UK headquarters will set up a separate division for each brand, and in the future, such a mechanism will be set up in China, where each team is responsible for a brand, giving full play to the role of horizontal coordination.
Secondly, there is the reform of the dealer network. "Our network strategy for the future is simple: Jaguar Land Rover will be open wherever our customers are. In terms of network layout, we want to focus on quality rather than simple and crude expansion. ”
In other words, in the future, Jaguar Land Rover will no longer expand its dealer network in the form of 4S stores, except in specific regions. Jaguar Land Rover will bring users a richer brand experience and maximize brand benefits in more diversified forms such as experience centers and high-end customization centers.
Just last year, Jaguar Land Rover upgraded the Beijing Huitong Luhua Sihui 4S Center, which is Jaguar Land Rover's first "new modern luxury" dealership in China. In Shanghai, Asia's first independent Range Rover Haute Couture Centre is opened. This new retail model is also gradually advancing to dealer stores across the country.
Coupled with the launch of the "Range Rover Realm", a global brand experience platform, Wu Chen said that it is necessary for more users to experience the ultimate respect of the Range Rover brand and interpret the connotation of "new modern luxury". This is also a new attempt by Jaguar Land Rover in China, hoping to bring users a new feeling.
And the insight and thinking behind this is, "we must go into the existing people, have a deep insight into the needs of customers, show them our products, convey our brand proposition, and let our story be integrated into their blood." ”
At the same time, this is also due to the fact that dealers play an important role in the "new modern luxury" journey, and it is very important for Wu Chen and Jaguar Land Rover to stand very firmly with their dealer partners, "I have repeatedly emphasized to the team that I never like to use the word 'management' for dealers, but cooperation. "For Jaguar Land Rover, the most important core purpose is to build a stronger, more sustainable and profitable sales and service network for the future.
After entering China for many years, the reason why Jaguar Land Rover wants to carry out "rebranding" is to further strengthen the development goals, brand attractiveness and brand personality of the four brands. Wu Chen also said frankly that after a year of practice and landing, the rebranding has increased both in sales and year-on-year. Of course, "we have only come a short way, we are still a little far from success, and we still have work to do before we can achieve 'phase' success." ”
In addition, the rebranding has another intention, "in the long term, it needs to be transformed, and it is closely related to the company's strategy." "And there is one hurdle that cannot be bypassed in the transition, and that is electrification. In particular, how to grasp the "second chance" of the Jaguar brand.
There is no doubt that Jaguar Land Rover has never hesitated to make the transition to electrification, and its plans have never changed. At the same time, Wu Chen also said that Jaguar Land Rover must be market-oriented, and will also learn from the experience of many predecessors in the same industry, and take the road of electrification step by step.
And, "Jaguar Land Rover's view is that if there is a product for electrification, it should be the best." Wu Chen expressed a resolute attitude, "We don't want to make any compromises, this is what we have agreed with the headquarters." We didn't want to test the waters with a product. This, of course, is why the first all-electric four-door GT model will only be launched in 2025.
"In the short term, if you only look at the proportion of electrification to judge the success of a brand or a car, I personally think this judgment is still relatively one-sided. It also depends on the timing of coming in, I think at this time in 2025, at least in the luxury electric vehicle segment, it will be more mature, and then we will see. ”