16 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 3 1 JULY 2019
ECURIE REIMAGINES JAGUAR XJ
Ecurie Cars has unveiled the LM69, a road-legal
reimagination of Jaguar’s 1966 XJ13 prototype
racer. Based on a one-off test car, 25 examples
will be built, powered by a 502bhp 5.0-litre quad-
cam V12 engine. Pricing has not been disclosed.
RENAULT PRICES UP UK RS TROPHY-R
Renault has confirmed UK pricing for its hardcore
Megane RS Trophy-R. The standard car is priced
at £51,140, with a Carbon Wheel pack taking that
to £63,140, and a Nürburgring Record pack – the
s a m e s p e c a s th e l a p - r e co r d h o l d e r – to £ 7 2 , 1 4 0.
W
hen it comes to large
crossovers, there
are two trends that
have been universally
acknowledged: first, the
m a r ke t j u st ke e p s o n g r ow i n g ,
and second, it is the one place
non-premium brands can
succeed, as Hyundai and Kia
have demonstrated. But now it
seems the good times for non-
premium models may be over.
In the first quarter of this
year the segment, made up of
such models as the Hyundai
Santa Fe, Ford Edge and Skoda
Ko d i a q , fe l l by 1 8 .9 %. T h e
sales figures for the past few
years tell a similar story: non-premium models are falling,
while premium ones are going
from strength to strength (note
that figures include crossovers
such as the Edge and SUVs like
the Santa Fe – the distinction
between crossover and SUV is
not relevant in this context).
So what has changed?
To understand the answer,
it is worth going back to the
long-term trends at work in the
rest of the market. Traditional
volume saloon models like the
Ford Mondeo have largely been
squeezed to death by the BMW
3 Series and its equivalents,
as people now expect a large
saloon to come with a premium
badge. In a way, the question
is why has this not already
happened to large SUVs?
T h e r e a s o n i s th a t w h e n
crossovers like the Kia Sorento
first broke through, theywere intrinsically radical and
interesting. To people moving
out of large saloons, a big
crossover was seen as one of
those trendy new off-roaders
you could show off to the
neighbours. The fact that the
badge wasn’t premium was
less important, because a large
crossover was inherently a
premium product compared to
a big saloon or hatchback.
But now the market is
returning to normal. In terms
of bodystyles, crossovers and
SUVs (including everything
from the Nissan Juke to the
Bentley Bentayga) account
for 39.6% of all sales – almost
exactly the same proportion as
hatchbacks. Given the current
ubiquity of such cars, it’s hard
to argue that a crossover is
still intrinsically premium. If
your neighbours now have one,you might want a premium
Sales slide for non-premium SUVs
Mondeo sales have
faded in the shadow
of premium saloons
Boom time is over for sub-premium SUVs and crossovers as the market ‘normalises’
crossover to stand out. It’s the
same reasoning that led to the
rise of premium brands in other
segments over the past 30
years (helped by the rise of PCP
deals making higher-priced
cars more affordable).
That does not mean
there will be no more large
crossovers from non-premium
brands. After all, if Skoda can
s e l l p l e nt y of S u p e r b s a l o o n s ,
there is no reason why it cannot
sell the Kodiaq in decent
numbers. But it does mean
that the rising tide that floated
all boats is now receding.
Non-premium brands will
have to offer compelling value
to stop buyers defecting to
more prestigious alternatives.
Conversely, Jaguar Land Rover
w i l l b e ve r y h a p py. W i th l ot s
of other issues to confront, at
least the market is flowing in
the direction of Land Rover
SUVs and Jaguar crossovers.
JAY NAGLEY
Mainstream SUVs such
as the Skoda Kodiaq face
premium-rival challenges