Trade Resources Industry Views Jaguar Has Reportedly Announced Q-Type, XQ Trademarks and Hint at Future SUV

Jaguar Has Reportedly Announced Q-Type, XQ Trademarks and Hint at Future SUV

Jaguar has reportedly filed trademark applications for two new model names, Q-Type and XQ, further fuelling speculation it is preparing to launch its first ever SUV.

US publication Pistonheads reports the iconic British brand famous for its luxury saloons and sports cars registered the names ‘Jaguar Q-Type’ and ‘Jaguar XQ’ with the European Union trademark database, supposedly keeping the door open to follow either its existing ‘F-Type’ or ‘XF’ naming structures with the proposed new model.

While Jaguar is yet to confirm its intentions to build a crossover, the company’s global brand director, Adrian Hallmark (below), told a small group of Australian journalists including CarAdvice at the 2013 New York auto show that there was “absolutely no resistance” within Jaguar to launching such a vehicle.

“It [making a SUV] is not our top priority, it’s not the biggest market, and we’ve got Land Rovers, but it’s growing, there is space, and we would at least consider it,” Hallmark admitted.

“It’s a fast-growing segment, everyone else is there with at least one, Porsche are now going with two.

Hallmark stressed, however, that if Jaguar were to enter the SUV market, it would have to be with something “completely different” to what is currently offered by sister company Land Rover.

“It’s not like Land Rover owns the segment. They’ve got 15 per cent of it, or 12 per cent, it depends which model you look at, which is fantastic, but there’s another 80-plus per cent to go, and it’s that 80-plus per cent that we would target and create something unique if we chose to go that way.

“And with that philosophy, everybody would buy into it, not a problem.”

Hallmark suggested Jaguar would most likely target the premium mid-sized SUV segment currently occupied by models like the Audi Q5 if it made the decision to launch a crossover.

“If we wanted to build the brand prestige, I would probably advocate a top-down approach. But we want to build the volume, we want to grow Jaguar, and on that basis you would be more likely to come in from a bottom-up perspective.

“When I say bottom-up, I don’t mean £20,000, I mean not- £50,000. It would have to be in that segment below XF, because that’s where the big volumes are.”

Hallmark revealed Jaguar design director Ian Callum (above) had created sketches and graphic images of SUVs, and said he was enthusiastic about the challenge of developing a potential game-changer for the brand.

“He’s a designer, so he’s perpetually excited about the idea of designing anything.

“I promise you, we’ve drawn everything. We haven’t built everything, but we’ve been going through all the strategic options and we’ve thought of everything we could do. Not just short term but longer term too.

“When we’re ready to go, we will go fast… but until we can we’ve got to keep our powder dry.”

Source: http://www.caradvice.com.au/230053/jaguar-q-type-xq-trademarks-hint-at-future-suv-report/
Contribute Copyright Policy
Jaguar Q-Type, XQ Trademarks Hint at Future SUV: Report