Filed under: Sedan, Crossover, Jaguar, Luxury



Jaguar's future product plans keep on slipping, slipping, slipping onto the internet, and the latest on it's entry-level luxury challenger is a 2015 due date. According to Automobile magazine, "most significant game-changer from Coventry" will be arriving on the same PLA platform that supports the Jaguar XJ and 2013 Range Rover. Kacher says the small sedan has already got the green light as codename X760, and will bow first as a four-door sedan, then as a crossover a year later.

This puts a date to a recent Autocar report that a small sedan and crossover were in the works. We've been getting reports of and concepts for a successor to the X-Type ever since Tata bought Jaguar - like the Bertone B99 concept last year, and this enthusiast concept more recently - since everyone knows it's what has to happen for "a new Jaguar" to succeed. We're looking forward to seeing what the English maker comes up with; if it remains true to form, it could be one of the few luxury competitors whose distinct model each look, well, truly distinct.Entry-level Jaguar X-Type successor due in 2015, crossover a year later originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 26 Nov 2012 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



Permalink | Email this | Comments

More...

 

Hm, I could be wrong, of course, but I don't see both designs coming.
For the Bertone one, I think that it is a tad to ambitioned and daring - although I would love to see that one as a estate car / station wagon.

For the other...well, strange mixture of a Ford Mustang front, the back of a XJ and overall looking much like a Volvo C30.

Nevertheless, the need for a model range below the XF is obvious.

 

References,
A. AUTOCAR magazine, issue dated 28 NOVEMBER 2012 (page 13).
B. AUTOCAR magazine, issue dated 05 DECEMBER 2012 (page 19).
C. AUTOCAR magazine, issue dated 12 DECEMBER 2012 (page 18).

The commitment from Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar’s Global Brand Director, towards the new “X-Type”; and the enthusiasm for the model from the Jaguar dealers in the USA; is both welcomed and a great relief (Reference C).

It was a cause for grave concern a couple of weeks earlier (Reference A), when Hilton Holloway, had described a level of (apparent) indecision - verging on paranoia - within Jaguar, towards the new “X-Type” - that it is understood is intended to compete directly with the Audi A4, BMW 3-Series, Mercedes C-Class, and the Volvo S60.

If Jaguar could not (apparently) “get-behind” the new “X-Type”, it did not bode well for when eventually Jaguar would have to consider an inevitable further, even smaller, model to compete directly with the Audi A3, BMW 1-Series, Mercedes A/B-Class, and the Volvo V40.

As Steve Cropley commented (Reference B), to “brand” these smaller models as anything other than Jaguar, would have been a fatuous distraction, as they would of course, still, inevitably, be perceived by the buying public; the fleet market customers; and, the press; as Jaguar vehicles.

These smaller vehicles have all done nothing but enhance the quality reputation of the prestigious manufacturers Audi, BMW, Mercedes, and Volvo, now that they all compete in new, wider, market segments - other than their traditional, somewhat exclusive, much smaller “executive” and “luxury” market segments.

The prestigious, quality, manufacturers such as Jaguar, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover and Volvo, do need to achieve a certain overall “critical mass” in production/sales numbers, to be financially viable.

RCT(V)