This week, Steve looks towards an enthralling electric future for Jaguar and reflects on his Bentley Bentayga V8 - his latest long-termer was delivered this week.
Monday
Jaguar will be an all-electric brand in four years’ time! You will surely have heard this by now from multiple sources, but it was extraordinary to see and hear the bombshell drop as the week was just beginning. It was great also to see new Jaguar Land Rover boss Thierry Bolloré deliver a radical, well-conceived plan with such impressive eloquence and then hear from insiders that work behind the headlines is already roaring ahead.
The biggest excitement for me comes from the bold assertion that Jaguar’s future must now be founded on supremely beautiful, emotionally engaging cars, not mere competitors in sectors. As someone who remembers the impossible magnificence of the XK120, Volkswagen Mark VII, C-Type and D-Type, and then the E-Type and XJ that crowned them, I’m impatient for such feelings again.
Tuesday
I drove Autocar’s spectacular, newly arrived Bentley Bentayga V8 long-temer up the Fosse Way to a Midlands address for a whiz in the new 1.0-litre Dacia Sandero Stepway. The bloke on the gate knew the mag and me, so we engaged in some lively banter about how the hell you can reach a sensible judgement about a £13,000 car when you’ve come to assess it in something six times as powerful costing 14 times as much.
This isn’t the first time the question has arisen. For us, the answer lies in three words: fitness for purpose. On that basis, you can compare a Bentley with a Dacia. Speaking for myself (and not our road testers, who have to fit every car into a complicated matrix of rivals, sister models and predecessors), such fitness accounts for four of my judgemental stars. The fifth, or fractions thereof, depends on the car’s ability to delight and inspire. On that basis, both of today’s machines earn a personal maximum.
Wednesday
The latest manufacturer to embrace an all-electric future is Ford of Europe, which will have its first European-built BEV on the market by 2023. I discussed the implications of this over the phone with Mr Editor Tisshaw: we decided that it marks a historic watershed. From here, the default new car is electrified. Pure petrol and diesel models will soon seem beside the point.
Thursday
Respecting the above, it was still fascinating to see Mercedes-Benz’s Christian Früh, the chief engineer behind the soon-to-launch new C-Class saloon, determinedly lay out the advantages of saloons with longitudinal engines and rear-wheel drive, at least in a premium application. Batting away suggestions that Stuttgart should have embraced fashionable front-wheel drive, Früh claimed the traditional layout delivers uncorrupted steering plus levels of comfort, handling and stability that are “clearly superior to a front-wheel-drive car”. The good news from the coming EV era is that rear-wheel drive should be easier to deliver than ever.
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Jaguar is on very thin ice. At least there is a plan now, though whether it has the finances to deliver it is questionable and whether they can do it better than the German competition (yes, Bentley and Rolls Royce are German too) is another big ask.
It will be interesting to watch, but since I have been burned frequently with Jaguar (lack of) reliability and ownership costs, never mind high depreciation, I will be doing it from the sidelines in future.
I love the cars to look at and drive, the history and heritage, but there are too many practical downsides to Jaguar ownership.
Steve, let's take the Porsche Taycan: the state of the 'car making art in EV form', though many would argue that Tesla is superior. I'd still take the Taycan over an 'S'.
So, if I may, with that premise accepted, suggest that when the rest of the world catches up with Porsche (which will be fairly soon) you'll have a plethora of cars which are little more than an melange of suppliers (LG, Samsung, Conti, Bosch, GKN, Lear, ZF, Siemens, BBS, Michelin, Apple, Google... et al) topped-off with 'brand-signature' styling.
Where for art the differentiation ? No more unique 6-pot boxer engines, V12 power-houses.....just a global amalgam of bits with a branded veneer. If that helps Jag, so be it.
In the EV era, I now fear that Jag (along with so many other historic names) will just become a branding exercise which will make the present parts-sharing of VAG look archaic, inefficient and amaterish.
Jag is dying in front of our eyes. I've wanted a Jag since I was about 6 and at the age of late forties I finally managed to purchase an XF and then an F Type, which I still have. Killing the XJ and just churning out different bodies based on Land Rover chassis makes a mockery of all those beautiful old Jag's that we lusted after. It's tragic. And yes, the previous poster is right, the chances of Jaguar ever losing a group test ever again are nil, even though others do it much better (the V90 that replaced the XF was about a million miles ahead in everything but "feel good factor").
Interesting. I preferred the current XF Sportbrake in 3.0-litre diesel S form much more than my previous F11 535d M Sport. Objectively, the BMW was better in nearly every discipline, but it was also so ruthlessly competent it left me cold - it was optimised for 100+ on an autobahn. The Jag was more engaging dynamically and a bit sexier to look at (for an estate car!) but slower, thirstier, less refined, noisier and more cheaply finished. Oddly, neither are particularly roomy cars for their 5 metre lengths, but the BMW was definitely better than the Jag, particularly the boot.
I imagine more punters notice the Jag's weaknesses than revel in its few strengths... JLR wanted mainstream volume but pitched the car at the minority. They'd better find some serious magic to sell a super-premium niche EV in future... I wouldn't be surprised if it never happens. The stillborn EV XJ is perhaps an omen for that.