Jaguar’s design chief just broke the hearts of that tiny, tiny group of enthusiasts who were holding out for a new Jaguar wagon.
Ian Callum threw an ice cold pot of tea onto speculation that the British automaker would offer a wagon version of one of its new sedans, telling a group of auto journos in London that they were done with estate cars, Automotive News Europe has reported.
The reason for this has a lot to do with why Callum and the journalists were in the same room. The event concerned the 2017 Jaguar F-Pace, the automaker’s first crossover SUV.
Only British drivers want a British wagon, and that’s not a big market, explained Callum. The U.S. and China aren’t interested in them, either.
“The world’s biggest wagon market is Germany,” he said to the crowd. “And what do Germans buy? They buy German cars.”
The last wagon Jaguar produced was a version of the previous-generation XF. Before that, it was a version of the lowly X-Type, which Queen Elizabeth II once used as her personal car.
Crossovers and SUVs offer universal appeal in all markets, and they will be Jaguar’s main focus from now on, Callum said, adding that he expects the F-Pace to become the brand’s best-selling model.
Purists were shocked when Jaguar started talking up the idea of a utility vehicle, but the revenue-generating capabilities of such a model can’t be ignored. Just ask Porsche about that. Hell, ask Bentley, which had to boost production targets for its quarter-million-dollar Bentayga SUV.
Expect Jaguar’s utility offerings to multiply if Callum’s predictions about the F-Pace come true.
[Image: Jaguar Land Rover]
“Queen Elizabeth II once used [X-type Estate] as her personal car.”
Still uses! She drove through a walking-only park not too long ago in London.
You’d think they’d buy her something that runs.
Well, what the heck…she can afford for the thing to be a shop queen, I suppose.
“Shop queen” merits a golf clap & a “well-played.”
It was a later one, I believe a VDP model. Since there’s a full time Royal Mechanic it’s not a bother!
Voila.
https://www.yahoo.com/autos/queen-elizabeth-drives-her-jaguar-wherever-she-pleases-183027902.html
Easy to find since I put it on my Facebook at the time.
*with accents*
Her: “Yes, I’ll be driving over here now!”
Guard: “Mum… I don’t think…”
Her: “Yes!”
She sold the X-Type, and to a buyer who didn’t know he / she was buying a car from the Royal Fleet, either. Also, the following article presents a very different attitude about Her Majesty driving through the park. I’m not saying that either one is correct, just that it may not necessarily be as selfish and “entitled” of an action as the Yahoo article suggests it is.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3455991/ONE-careful-owner-Queen-sells-seven-year-old-Jaguar-X-type-complete-heated-seats-parking-sensors-just-7-600-miles-clock-15-000.html
Please note I have no issue with the Queen doing as she pleases. She wasn’t hurting anybody, and I think it’s charming how she still likes to drive herself.
I did think all of her cars got a state seal or some such, so it would be very obvious that it came from the Royals.
Well, ostensibly they remove that before they sell it. It’s just something that attaches to the grille of the vehicle. But I believe Her Majesty likes green. She had a green Range Rover as well as the green X-Type estate.
The official state cars do have a plaque holder that the royal crest would go on when the Queen or other member of the Royal family is in the car.
The Jaguar is different, as it’s the Queen’s own car, not an official car. Kind of like Prince Charles’s DB6, it doesn’t have any special badging as it’s his personal car.
I wonder if they removed the police lights from behind the grille before they sold it.
She was driving through Windsor Great Park, which just happens to be part of the grounds of Windsor Castle. Essentially, she was driving in her own backyard. Like most of the Royal Parks, the public have access to the grounds, but not to drive through.
Lovely wooden steering wheel. That’s not stock is it?
Yep.
http://static.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/images/Auto/izmo/291976/2008_jaguar_x_type_dashboard.jpg
“Purists were shocked!”
To hell with purists. Here is a list of individual models that outsell the whole Jag BRAND:
– Nissan LEAF
– Porsche Cayenne
– Range Rover Evoque
– Cadillac XTS
– Toyota Venza (I thought these were discontinued???)
Etc
Jag moved a paltry 14K cars in the US last year. The “purists” need to get real.
“Crossovers and SUVs offer universal appeal in all markets”
1. No they don’t.
2. The J part of JLR doesn’t make SUVs.
Tata’s JLR has to decide if it wants to be a smaller bespoke brand selling a few models at large margin or a large brand selling volume models at less margin. My guess is the latter, good luck.
Based on sales figures and ATPs they are not doing much of the former either. All Jags with direct BMW/MB competitors sell for much less than those BMW/MB competitors at far lower volumes. And yea, CUVs/SUVs sell like gangbusters pretty much anywhere people can afford them. Jag would be stupid to continue down the “purist” path and follow Lotus to its exit of the US market.
“Ian Callum threw an ice cold pot of tea onto speculation”
Yeah, well, some people need that so they can wake up to reality.
Why do I have to face reality? Why should I buy what everyone else buys? I want what I want and if you aren’t going to build it then I’ll look elsewhere. Not that I can afford a Jaguar anyway.
You and me both, Fred. This simply makes my life easier – should I decide to replace my current German wagon, I needn’t bother darkening a Jaguar dealer’s door. I can afford a Jaguar. I even rather like them. But I have no use for a useless sedan, or an idiotic CUV.
Seems astoundingly stupid to basically give up on a European mainstream market segment. The default upper middle class family car in Europe is a 3-series or C-Class or A4 wagon. The sedan versions are like hens teeth.
What’s useless about a sedan, or idiotic about a CUV? I’m not sure anyone told you this, but not everyone wants or needs the same things you do, and more importantly they aren’t wrong in doing so.
I have rented an XF wagon in the UK and quite liked it. Drove no differently than the sedan, was just as quiet but more practical. If we got them here with AWD and the 3.0 V6 diesel I’d buy one.
I suspect most of the car buying public want SUV’s though. I did the build and price on an F Pace and it was more reasonable than I thought, certainly competitive. Here the base price is about the same as an Acura MDX.
Answer…for those of us still in the wagon game?
V90
Although this car is a beauty…just wait for the Volvo V90.
That is a really beautiful car as well…and one of my top car picks in the TTAC Poll.
As long as any word resembling “Lucas” is out of the conversation, Jaguar has one less Hex or Albatross keeping it from moving forward.
They have not used Lucas electrical parts in 23 years.
And in all fairness, I did have a Series III V12 sedan. All the GM parts failed in the car at least once – transmission, power steering, ignition module, and AC compressor; but nothing Lucas quit on me. In my experience, the road to Jaguar reliability is get rid of the GM junk!
And on that bombshell, nobody outside the internet cares.
Now that Jag is in the CUV business, a station wagon is waste of resources, even in Europe where handful of people possibly still buy them.
Of course, it’s stupid for Jaguar to be making CUVs, too, since they’ve been under the same ownership as Land Rover for most of the last 40 years.
Only since 2008 when Tata bought both Jaguar and Land Rover. Prior to that, Land Rover was owned by BMW. The Jaguar and LR products appeal to different markets and are designed differently. Far more difference than GMC and Chev for instance that just change the grill badge.
BMW sold Land Rover to Ford in 2000. Ford bought Jaguar in 1989.
Land Rover and Jaguar were both owned by British Leyland from 1968-1986.
I can’t wait until the CUV fad collapses and these late sellouts are left holding their tallywhacker. That will be funny. Hahahahaha! LOL!
The reality of the world we live in is that the Jaguar F Pace has a 9 month waiting list and is outselling the entire Jaguar range. People don’t buy sportscars in enough numbers any more and even cars like the 3 series are loosing ground to SUVs
Jaguar will now proceed to make a whole range of SUVs which is kind of sad in a way but on the other hand it will probably finance future F types
The FPace is the only sub-$100K Jaguar with a decent back seat. That’s why people want it, and why the XF and XE aren’t selling.
The very few people who want a Jaguar wagon can just slam their F Pace. As a bonus, they’ll get the rock-hard ride of a current Jag sedan.