For most of a decade, Jaguar has been fully occupied doing stuff that was more vital than glamorous: finding a generic look to jump two design generations and bring its cars up to date, launching saloons against its deadliest rivals, convincing itself that SUVs were right for Jaguar and designing required models.
Jaguar lines up J-Pace SUV to take fight to Porsche Cayenne
Now it’s in a different phase: creating the cars whose highest purpose (apart from profit) is to carry the unique persona of Jaguar to future generations. Barring the Jaguar F-Type sports car – which, given Ratan Tata’s keenness from the beginning, was also a necessity – the new phase starts with the I-Pace, which conveys boldness and technological grasp, and will extend through much larger, more expensive and lower-volume creations that further build image and desire. Prominent among them will the forthcoming J-Pace.
If you want to remind yourself how important such image cars are, take a look back through Jaguar’s model roll-call.
In this era, Jaguar faces a new challenge. The mechanical and styling ‘tools’ that produced the E-Type aren’t appropriate. Creating desire needs a new approach. The I-Pace sets the course. Cars like the XJ, J-Pace and maybe a new XK must extend the journey.
Nine new Jaguars to expect in the coming years
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Flogging a dead horse
I can't help thinking that they are flogging a dead horse with the XE and XF. They are trying to compete with BMW and Mercedes, but nobody in their right mind would choose one of those Jaguars over the German equivalent. Jaguar just can't compete with the inertia the Germans enjoy, plus the billions rolled over into development and production of the 3 /5 / C / E. Why don't Jaguar replace them with all electric equivalents? They have a better chance of jumping ahead if they do this. Also, they have the advantage of not having as much as the Germans invested in huge scale ICE production of passenger cars. The J-Pace should definitely be all-electric too. It should be a larger I-Pace, not a larger F-Pace. The F-Pace is a good car no doubt (relatively far better than the E-Pace) but an electric J-Pace would make a big and positive statement, and capture sales as well as massive, positive PR. It would be future-proofed from the off.
Jaguar's "unique persona" has
Jaguar's "unique persona" has been sold down the river in the pursuit of economies of scale, lower build costs and higher margins. Their cars are now (F-Type excepted) homogenous, cheaply finished and poorly built, with meagre standard equipment levels and grossly inflated prices.
They adopted diesel wholescale and missed the hybrid and electric markets, got caught out by the diesel decline and are now rushing to fill the gap. They have tried to achieve volume fleet sales with a brand most associated with higher-end charismatic luxury sports saloons and failed because the cars they've released (XE, new XF, F-Pace to a degree) are too expensive, bland and don't offer the right levels of quality or luxury to justify the price. They have upset longstanding loyal owners by making it clear that they no longer want their business so are rapidly losing their core client base to brands such as Mercedes and Lexus.
They started well with the original XF, which was backed up with the XK and new XJ. All of these had a lovely "cool Britannia" vibe and gave off Jaguar personality in a modern product. They should have built on this by making the newer models styling more distinct, upping the luxury feel and improving quality. They have done the opposite.
Unless I'm talking nonsense (which I accept some may believe I am), I am convinced they will fail in a similar manner to Rover.
F-Type excepted ?
I'd put the F-Type in your ..."cheaply finished and poorly built......and grossly inflated prices " category, too. At least the I-Pace looks like a thoroughly researched, designed and built vehicle. I had a very long poke around both the XE and then the F-Type (with a view to buying) and found the quality of execution deeply average (not so polite form: unforgivable at the price). Let's hope that the I-Pace - at least in terms of quality - points to the future.
“They adopted diesel
“They adopted diesel wholescale and missed the hybrid and electric markets, got caught out by the diesel decline and are now rushing to fill the gap.”
No evidence today that they are rushing to fill the gap.
One electric car, the I-Pace and talk of an electric XJ, ideal for the Prime Minister, at some point in the future will not stop the collapse of diesel engined cars in the coming months which Jaguar are marketing as if there is not a problem with them.
If the “government would stop confusing the public” and the Chancellor would row back on the VED rates Jaguar and the SMMT would have us believe that all would be wel, ignoring the fact that even the Germans are eschewing the diesel.
But Jaguar doesnt have a
But Jaguar doesnt have a "unique persona" anymore, it lost it when it changed its styling to "generic" and thats exaclty how most Jags look now - BMWs look, like BMWs (sometimes fat ugly ones, but they still look like BMWs), Mercedes still look like Mercedes etc· Most Jaguars now look like they come from any number of newish Eastern brands.