'Competition doesn't worry a brand like Jaguar'

It’s been a year and a half since Ace Perkins launched its Jaguar Land Rover showroom in Wakdewadi, and within the short span of time, this nine-car-display showroom has attracted the creme de la creme of the city.

Situated in the heart of the city, this showroom boasts of a good prospective client-base and is already experiencing a heavy waiting period for all its products.

When dna approached Parvinder Singh Vijan, managing director of Ace Perkins, he looked extremely content with the way Pune has been responding to Ace Perkin’s JLR so far.

As with any other city, competition is fierce in Pune, especially with so many car brands and dealerships that keep coming up, but Vijan says he never had to worry about it.

“A brand like Jaguar doesn’t need to worry about competition. We are not competing with anyone. We have a brand heritage of our own. We as a company have high technology that enables us to design better products than the rest,” Vijan said, adding that probably the only challenge is that the demand is more than the supply.

According to Vijan, a major advantage that they have is that their team is aggressive in following up with customers, which ensures them a lot of reference customers.

“We have a good customer-contact programme. Keeping our customers first is our motto,” he added.

Earlier this month, they added yet another feather to their cap, by launching the Jaguar F-type in the city after its launch in Chennai last month. This two-seater convertible sports car was introduced in the Indian market in July.

Keeping intact the 75-year old sporting bloodline, the sports car continues to focus on performance, agility and driver involvement. Currently, two variants of F-type are available in India – F-TYPE S and F-TYPE V8S, which will be powered respectively by Jaguar’s new 3.0-litre V6, supercharged petrol engine in 380PS output and its 5.0-litre V8 supercharged petrol producing 495PS.

The range-topping F-TYPE is set to reach 100 km/h in 4.3 seconds and has a top speed of 300 km/h. The 380PS V6 FTYPE S is set to reach 100 km/h in 4.9 seconds and has a top speed of 275 km/h.

Speaking about the F-Type models, Vijan said, “We are glad to see the response in the short duration of time. The fact that within a week of its launch, we have already got four confirmed orders, is commendable.”

Vijan said that they are open to more dealerships in the city as and when the demand is more. “It’s just been a year and a half that we are into operation and we are taking it slow. Depending on the demand, we will decide the road ahead,” he added.