Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will seek to boost sales of special edition models and earn up to $1.91 billion in profits. To do so, it needs to sell almost four times as many special edition models from its Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar lines by 2026 compared with 2023 levels, Lennard Hoornik, the group’s chief commercial officer, told investors.
This week we got to know the first special edition of the Defender. It is none other than the Defender OCTA, with a 635 hp V8 gasoline engine and an exclusive air suspension system that make it the “most resistant, most capable and luxurious” Defender according to the press release. It has to be, since they have been asking for it since 207.450 €.
Does that sound like a lot to you? Well, this is just the beginning. At the same event held at the end of June, they indicated that prices for low-volume Defenders could reach £350,000 (around €410,000) for these “bespoke” versions.
The company also says that limited editions of Jaguar’s new electric range could be at those prices. They have identified six levels of “halo strategy models”. They range from vehicles costing £250,000 to others costing more than £2.5m. One example from the plan shown to investors: armoured Range Rovers will cost around £1.5m.
In the Middle East, the Range Rover Sadaf V8 (limited to 20 units and costing $415,000). And in the United States the Range Rover Carmel for $370,000. These halo models certainly look like they could be a major revenue stream for the company, which wants to move from an 8.5% profit margin to 10% by 2026.
This strategy has been in place for some time now. In fact, average unit revenues were €53,000 per unit in 2019 and in the last financial year they exceeded €82,500. In recent years, they have continued to attract wealthier customers.
In addition to SUVs, JLR intends to bring Jaguar at higher price rangesAn electric sedan is expected next year for around 150,000 euros, in a step towards the luxury that other firms such as Bentley represent. On a new platform, the Jaguar Electrified Architecture (JEA) will be the basis of three models, including an electric GT, of which a prototype should be presented at the end of this year. And beware, that based on this base there will also be more expensive special and limited editions… for those who know the name Panthera.
