New 2016 Jaguar Models Have Lower Prices, Improved Warranties

Backed into a corner by criticism that its products are overpriced and unreliable, Jaguar bared its teeth by announcing a new strategy of lower pricing and “best-in-class” warranties, starting with its 2016 model-year vehicles.

Despite offering some sexy, powerful, and alluring products, Jaguar sales significantly trail other luxury brands. Rather than pricing its cars near the top in each category where it competes, as it’s done up to now, Jaguar plans to play the “value” card, hoping that lower advertised prices will broaden the potential customer base. Jaguar says its pricing strategy is “attacking the core of every segment.”

As an example, the compact XE sedan, which competes against the Audi A4 and BMW 3 Series, will start at just under $35,000. Psychologically at least, that’s way more appealing than the XE’s current $40,000 starting point.

The standard warranty is also getting a significant boost, growing to five years and 60,000 miles. Those with a good memory will recall that an extra-long basic warranty was a strategy Hyundai used successfully when that brand had earned itself a reputation for shoddiness. Hyundai really did improve its manufacturing quality, though it took a while. We’d love to see Jaguar pull the same turn-around.

As announced, next year’s Jags have lower starting prices than many, if not all, competitors in the various lux-brand segments. And where the MSRP hasn’t changed much, the company is including a bunch more standard features.