Jaguars Abroad

Sir,

During the recent “British Week” here in Munich the British Leyland Company presented a small motor show at which a large number of their current models were displayed. Four Jaguars were shown and I was surprised to see that the XJ12 and the V12 E-Type models both cost well over DM40,000 here. At the present exchange rate of DM6.3 to one pound sterling, this is equivalent to a price of £6,300 plus. When one looks at the British prices of these models, which vary from £3,300 to £4,000, there appears a considerable disparity between the two.

It is quite correct to say that at its English price the Jaguar is very exceptional value compared with the best of the Porsche and BMW models, which cost over £6,000 plus in Britain. However, for a German person buying a car in Germany he will pay about the same price for his Jaguar as he would for the top models in the BMW and Porsche range, i.e., DM40,000 plus.

The Jaguar, therefore, is not quite as good value to the German buyer as it obviously is to his British counterpart. Perhaps the most interesting point is that the Porsche and BMW cars cost about the same price in Britain as they do in Germany, i.e., £6,000 plus in Britain and DM40,000 plus in Germany. I am sure there is a perfectly natural explanation for this situation—it would be interesting to hear it.

Munich, Germany. M. R. CARROLL. [Over to BLMC.—ED.]