How USE* Helped the Jaguar XF’ s Class-leading Residuals

The Jaguar XF will be worth more than any of its competitors in the years to come. The Glass’s Guide experts predict that a Jaguar XF will be worth 18 per cent more than the equivalent Audi in 12 months time and nine per cent more in three years time. Values achieved for used examples of the outgoing 2.7 diesel model have achieved an impressive 77 per cent of the original list price after 12 months, while EurotaxGlass research suggests that the new 3.0-litre diesel Jaguar XF will retain an impressive 80 per cent of its purchase price after 12 months or 14,000 miles.

Trade Journal

A key aspect of digital serviceability support from USE* Automotive is the calculation of service labour times from digital data. This methodology had found its application in a wide variety of circumstances, from the calculation of published labour times for warranty repairs, to helping assess business case benefits for product design changes in product development, to, as in this case study, the earlier delivery of service repair times for scheduled service repairs.

The Challenge

Serviceability is a key factor when calculating residual values. Fleet buyers keep a keen eye on cost of ownership (for the first 60K miles/five years), the price of which can make or break a sale. By ensuring that scheduled service components can be replaced in the most efficient manner, the cost of ownership is reduced and the vehicle becomes more attractive in the fleet market. With the XF pitched against the Mercedes E-Class, the Audi A6 and the class-leading BMW 5-Series, it is key that the cost of ownership is kept as low as possible.

The Solution

Through the development cycle for the XF, USE* Automotive engineers worked closely with Product Development at Jaguar Land Rover, digitally analysing top warranty and scheduled service repairs for the XF. By suggesting changes to the design of components and vehicle architecture, USE* helped to lower the service times and, as a result, helped support the residual values. All of the key service components were checked several times throughout the design process and any issues were immediately escalated to the appropriate engineers within Product Development.

Benefits

By ensuring that the scheduled service repair times were kept as competitive as possible, the cost of ownership decreased meaning the residual value of the car was improved. According to Glass’ Guide, the Jaguar XF will be worth 18 per cent more than the equivalent Audi in 12 months time and nine per cent more in three years time. The XF also beats the Mercedes E-Class and BMW 5 Series in the residual stakes. Research suggests that the new 3.0-litre diesel XF will retain 80 per cent of its purchase price after 12 months or 14,000 miles and 45 per cent of its value after three years and 60,000 miles.

As testament to this success, the XF has gone on to be awarded Best Executive Car at the 2009 Fleet World Honours. The judging panel considered residual values, maintenance costs, reliability, driver appeal and manufacturer back-up. Editor of Fleet World, Ken Rogers, said, 'The Jaguar XF brings traditional British individuality and style to a market segment dominated mainly by products from the German premium manufacturers – and it brings the same aura to the executive slots in the company car park. Increasingly important from the fleet perspective is that residuals are good too.'

Achievements

A significant factor in ensuring these excellent residual values was the early delivery of the scheduled service repair times. Traditionally, these times were submitted when a pre-production vehicle had been disassembled, but thanks to USE* Automotive SERP engineers working in the virtual world, these times were produced much earlier, allowing more time to work on improvements and greater levels of change to be affected. Once pre-production vehicles became available all of the repair operations were validated and remained unchanged.

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