29 August 2022

Jaguar Land Rover will open a network of manufacturer-owned stores as part of its launch of a new all-electric Jaguar range set for 2025.

Fresh on the heels of a planned move to agency agreements by 2024 for its UK retailers, JLR will open a global network of owned dealerships which, the manufacturer claims, will “completely change perception of the Jaguar brand and the automotive buying/ownership experience”.

The plan for a global network of JLR-owned stores has been revealed in a job advert by the manufacturer for a head of global retail operations.

Confirming the move, a Jaguar Land Rover spokesman said: “In 2025 across the globe we will launch a new all-electric Jaguar range which will be a copy of nothing. Ahead of the launch we are reimagining every aspect of our Jaguar business including how we recreate the brand and how and where we engage with our customers. We will give further updates in due course.”

Three new all-electric Jaguars are due in 2025

The retail operations job advert sets out that the incumbent will “define and build the systems, processes and tools required to operate global retail at scale”, “continually improve the client experience, store performance and brand perception via a test, learn and innovate approach” and overall will be “responsible for enabling and supporting the rollout, operation and consistently high performance of a global network of owned stores as part of an omni-channel, luxury client experience that aims to completely change perception of the Jaguar brand and the automotive buying/ownership experience”.

Retailers that Auto Retail Agenda spoke to at the time of the agency announcement voiced concerns about the lack of future plans for the Jaguar brand and its ability to generate profitable sales. A relaunch of the Jaguar brand could go some way to solving this issue.

JLR is understood to have toyed with the idea of small network of brand super-centres in the past. However, these would have been owned and operated by retail groups.

It is unclear how many manufacturer-owned stores each country will have and when the first of the new sites will open or how they will operate alongside the retail group-owned Arch sites.

Tags: agency, Arch, Jaguar Land Rover, JLR