At the crossroads: Tata Motors is going to take a leap of faith to boost Jaguar sales in the US market

Tata Motors is going through an interesting phase. It two brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, which were acquired in 2008, are going in opposite directions.

By opposition direction we mean that while the sales of Land Rover continued to surge, accounting for over 80% of the 462,000 vehicles sold by Tata’s British subsidiary, its Jaguar struggled to even match up to its sister.

US sales of Land Rovers have risen 20% in the first eight months of this year. On the contrary, Jaguar sales dropped about 4% from the same period in 2014.

However, global sales of both the brands have more than doubled since the buyout.

But now, Tata is attempting to bolster the Jaguar business to compete with rivals like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.

Come September, Tata will unveil Jaguar’s first SUV- F-PACE model- at the Frankfurt auto show.

It will arrive in US showrooms next spring, along with Jaguar XE compact sedan.

It is expected that both the vehicles, combined, will take Jaguar's US sales volume to more than the double.

Right now Jaguar has three sedans but the new Jaguar SUV, whose price will be revealed at the Frankfurt show, and other compact cars will participate in much broader segments of the market.

Jaguar is also touting a new version of its midsized XF model that goes on sale this fall.

Apart from new cars, Jaguars are about to get a lot cheaper too. The British brand will announce slashed prices, aggressively moving downmarket with its current line up and parking its two new models squarely in the "entry luxury" space.

The new version of Jaguar's larger XF sedan will be 9% cheaper with a starting price of $51,900. Its XJ sedan will still run at least $74,400 but will soon be packed with about $7,000 in additional options and equipment at no extra charge.

(Image: Reuters)