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| Tata Motors readies Jag for Le Mans |
| Swaraj Baggonkar / Mumbai Feb 21, 2010, 00:35 IST |
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Brand returns to high-profile race after 10-year hiatus.
More than a decade after Jaguar was forced to quit Le Mans, the gruelling 24-hour race which had built the cult British company's racing car image, the prancing cat will be seen on the French racetrack again in June this year.
Tata Motors, India’s biggest automobile company by revenue, which had bought Jaguar from Ford in 2008, is making a multi-crore investment in restoring Jaguar's rich image in motor racing to promote the iconic brand.
Jaguar, which is celebrating 75 years on the road this year, has a rich history in motorsport, particularly at Le Mans where the brand won five times on the trot in the 1950s with the legendary C and D Type models.
Jaguar Cars Global Marketing Director CJ O’Donnell said: “Motorsports has always been important to the Jaguar brand. Our domination of Le Mans in the 1950s was the foundation on which the company was developed. Returning to Le Mans will reignite excitement for the marquee across the globe.
Le Mans is the world’s oldest sportscar endurance race and has been held annually since 1923 in La Sathe, France. JaguarRSR, the professional racing team of Jaguar, will race this year in the XKR GT2. The JaguarRSR team last won Le Mans 20 years ago in the XJR-12, but after that had to keep a low profile either due to superior competition or due to inadequate funding.
“This initiative is specifically targeted at reigniting latent emotion for Jaguar in motor racing and to enhance the brand's strength and support sales growth,” said the reply from a Tata Motors spokesperson.
Ford Motor Company, which had acquired Jaguar in 1989 and pumped in $10 billion over and above the acquisition cost of $2.5 billion, failed miserably to revive the luxury brand as demand for the premier label continued to decline.
Jaguar’s less than successful entry in the Formula 1 race in 2000 was its only recent global motorsport appearance. Cash-strapped Ford was forced to sell the Jaguar Formula 1 team to energy drink Red Bull which renamed it Red Bull Racing.
Le Mans is very different from other big races such as the Grand Prix as it focuses on the ability of a car company to build fast machines which are also sporty and reliable. This was done to promote the idea of fuel-efficiency while running the vehicle over a race which would last for 24-hours (with pit stops).
Other successful race car brands which have built their business on the motorsport include Porsche (with 16 victories at Le Mans), Audi (seven victories), Peugeot, BMW, Renault, Alfa Romeo and Bentley.
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