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Jaguar Land Rover launches Pivotal subscription service

Two years ago, Jaguar Land Rover launched a subscription service in the UK dubbed Carpe. The program was effectively a 12-month lease with no deposit and no mileage limit, and an all-inclusive monthly payment covering insurance, tax, service, and repairs. For GBP910 ($1,134 U.S.) plus the cost of fuel every month, a subscriber could secure a Jaguar E-Pace at the bottom end, a payment of GBP2,200 ($2,741 U.S.) per month opening the doors to a Range Rover Sport. In between, the Range Rover Evoque cost GBP980, the Jaguar XE GBP1,200, the Range Rover Velar GBP1,255, and Land Rover Discovery GBP1,550. The numbers and customer feedback have encouraged JLR to turn Carpe into Pivotal, with new lease levels, terms, and restrictions. Instead of keeping a vehicle for 12 months, Pivotal subscribers pay GBP550 to join, then swap out every six months. Changing cars early incurs a GBP250 fee, or customers can request to stick with the vehicle they have beyond six months, but JLR reserves the right to switch out cars when necessary. Pivotal keeps tabs to the odometer, too — instead of unlimited driving, the program caps fee-free travel at 1,500 miles per month, 20 pence per mile after that. However, the FAQ section explains that "mileage is accumulative so do not worry if you do not use your full mileage allowance, the first month can be carried on into the next within a given vehicle."  Carpe's six levels have been reduced to four Pivotal tiers. Blue costs GBP750 ($934 U.S.) per month and offers access to the Jaguar F-Pace, Land Rover Discovery Sport, or Range Rover Evoque, clearly a much better deal than GBP910 for an E-Pace (and we like the E-Pace). Indigo runs GBP1,150 ($1,433 U.S.) for the choice of a Jaguar I-Pace, Range Rover Velar, or Land Rover Discovery. Violet, costing GBP1,350 ($1,682 U.S.), comes with just one vehicle for now, the Range Rover Sport. Same goes for Ultraviolet at GBP1,600 ($1,993 U.S.), which gets the Range Rover. The brand already has plans to expand the fleet with the new Defender, and plug-in hybrid versions of the Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque The only noted repair item not covered is windshield replacement, which carries a GBP150 deductible. The splashy rework in England comes shortly after Mercedes-Benz shuttered its Collection service here in the U.S. On trial for two years in Nashville, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, Collection couldn't get the traction Mercedes wanted.

E.C.D. Automotive Design gets into the Jaguar restomod game

Florida-based E.C.D. Automotive Design — formerly East Coast Defender — made its bones turning the barely disguised Midlands tractors emerging from Land Rover's Solihull plant into finely detailed Chelsea tractors that cost almost as much as a genuine John Deere (which means a lot, for those unaware of the frightening costs of farm equipment). With its territory well marked and established, ECD decided to expand its offerings to "something that would sit nicely next to one of our existing Land Rover builds and be on a par, but something different, something sporty and quintessentially British." The search began and ended with the Jaguar E-Type. Not only do we know the formula for this, but Jaguar Classic Works just advertised its own adroitness with such builds in showing off the 1968 Series 1 E-Type Roadster that took part in the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Pageant. ECD offers a few options Jaguar Classic Works doesn't, though, starting with the same kinds of engine conversions performed on the Land Rovers. The outfitter will be happy to rebuild or source an age appropriate inline-six or V12 and a five-speed manual transmission, warning that the mill "will require higher ongoing maintenance" and "come with leaks and all." Less grubby options are either a GM LT1 6.2-liter V8 with 450 horsepower, shifting through an eight-speed automatic, or an electric conversion using a 450-horsepower Tesla powertrain that provides a range of 200 miles in the city and 140 miles on the highway. All variants get performance suspension and brakes; the ICE versions get a sports exhaust, too. The standard menu of paint and interior options includes 11 historic Jaguar paint colors from the 1960s through the 1980s, and 10 modern colors from the 2023 lineup. Inside, 12 solid hues of Nappa leather can be upgraded with two-tone, hand-tipped, spinneybeck, woven, or distressed treatments to go with the European weave carpeting. Prices start at $299,995, each build taking about 14 months to deliver.  Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Jaguar Land Rover posts profitable quarter amidst big yearly losses

Jaguar has posted its first profit in quite some time, as the financial quarter ending on March 31 brought in a net income of $151.6 million. However, that is the light in the end of the tunnel, as full year results through March showed a $4.58 billion loss (GBP3.6 billion). The losses are again attributable to declining sales in China, with a whiff of the still-lingering Brexit process. While JLR's annual U.S. sales were up 8.1 percent, and U.K. sales improved by 8.4%, overall sales came down 5.8% to 578,915 vehicles. For April, Chinese sales nearly halved as they dropped by 46 percent. Earlier this year, JLR's woes caused its owner Tata Motors to post the biggest ever quarterly loss in Indian corporate history, at nearly $4 billion. JLR's CEO Ralf Speth stated that the company is "reducing complexity" and transforming its business by cost savings and cash flow improvements, citing the fourth-quarter profits as an example of the ongoing turnaround. Speth said JLR has already managed to deliver $1.59 billion (GBP1.25 billion) of efficiencies and savings. JLR says its turnaround program, dubbed Charge, will drive it to at least $3.18 billion (GBP2.5 billion) of investment, working capital and profit improvements by March 2020, and that it currently has $4.84 billion (GBP3.8 billion) of cash. Speth continued that JLR will "go forward as a transformed company that's leaner and fitter," and that the sustained investment in new products and technologies will drive future demand. There has been earlier speculation of Tata Motors selling JLR to the PSA Group, but as Autocar reports, Tata's financial chief again refuted these rumors. JLR also announced today that its CFO of 11 years, Ken Gregor is stepping down after 22 years with the company, and that he will be succeeded by JLR's Chief Transformation Officer, Adrian Mardell.