Jaguar F-Pace drives Jaguar to the TOP of the European sales growth charts

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Jaguar was the car maker with the biggest growth in European sales in 2016 thanks, mainly, to taking a leaf out of Land Rover’s book with the new Jaguar F-Pace.

For so many years Jaguar has been the poor relation in the JLR setup, with the stellar sales increase of Jaguar Land Rover in the last five or six years driven by the Land Rover bit. 

But Jaguar looks to be starting to do its bit and pull its weight thanks, in the main, to the stellar success of the new Jaguar F-Pace SUV.

It’s a bit ironic that Jaguar has had to deliver a car far more suited to the Land Rover stable than the Jaguar (and Land Rover will be plagiarising it to deliver the Range Rover Velar soon), but all that matters is that it sells, and sells well.

The success of the Jaguar F-Pace (which made up two thirds of Jaguars increased sales) made Jaguar the fastest growing brand in Europe in 2016, with sales up a remarkable 71 per cent (admittedly from an embarrassingly low number), delivering more than three times the growth of its nearest rival Honda.

It still leaves a very long way to go to catch up with Land Rover, with Jaguar’s European sales in 2016 hitting 68.6k and Land Rover’s 153k, and much further to compete with the likes of Mercedes (840k) and BMW (822k).

But it’s a strong move in the right direction, and with the likely arrival of a smaller SUV from Jaguar (actually, it’s a certainty) and Jaguar’s electric i-Pace, sales at the Big Cat should keep on growing quickly.

It’s just a bit said that it’s taken a big dose of Land Rover’s DNA to make that happen; buyers just don’t seem to appreciate Jaguar’s core appeal in any great number.