How can you tell if your x300 was assembled in England or USA?

 

I am pretty sure that all of the X300s were made in Browns Lane in Coventry, England. This can be deciphered by "decoding" the vin.

 

Yup. Merrie Olde England, like all Jags.

What gave you the notion that some were USA built?

Cheers
DD

 

From comments people make about my Jags (Was this one built in England before Ford bought them?) I suppose the average person does not realize Ford is a global company. I guess they are built in India now, huh?

 

Open up your driver side door and look at the sticker on the inside. It tells you the manufacture location which is Coventry, England. So we can all say our cars were "Imported from England" with a smile.

 

Up to my knwledge no Jaguar has never been made outside England up to todays date. And i personallly don´t think that will ever happen

 

Jaguars were all built in the Browns Lane factory, Coventry up to the time the S-Type came out in 1998, which was built at Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, the XJs and the XJS/XK continuing at Browns Lane.

Then the X-Type came along, and this was built at the ex-Ford Escort factory at Halewood, near Liverpool.

Then Jaguar closed the Browns Lane factory and production moved to Castle Bromwich, with the X-Type carrying on at Halewood until production of them recently ceased. Land Rover Freelanders were also built at Halewood and the factory is now exclusively Land Rover production.

In fact, the bodies of Jaguars have been made at Castle Bromwich since the 70s, and taken by large trucks the 10 miles to Browns Lane.

Castle Bromwich was the main Spitfire factory in WW2.

Tata Motors have hinted that Land Rovers and Jaguars may be built outside England in the future, although the lower pound means it is not such an economic move nowadays. There is also a danger of losing the "exclusivity" and "brand attraction".

 

Okay people, this is a code blue! I need all hands on deck. Hard to port, press the starboard oars. We need to turn this around to ensure that Jaguar is always in England if not owned by an English company/person. If this brand looses it's Britishness or exclusivity than we could be in trouble, and Jaguar could be the new Lexus.

 

Most certainly a move outside of England would damage the Jaguar. Besides the fact that it is a great looking, quality automobile, there is a certain allure to the fact of it being made in England. I have always been attracted to cars built by my brethren across the pond and the loss of that connection would not lessen the older Jags, but would certainly hurt the appeal of newer cars. Kind of like the Triumph motorcycle--brought back, but not the same.

 

Unfortunately Jaguar lost it's "Britishness" the day Ford redesigned them. I also noticed that the early 2000's Hyundai's look almost identical to the jags.
Should they still be made in England? Of course, but I also think they need to go back to the sleekness of the Jags of days past.

 

I agree. They should do a retro version of an early/mid 60's four door saloon- the one with the oval shaped grill and four round headlights. I bet it would be a big seller, and so good looking that even the Koreans would copy the look for their own cars.

 

Many Jag lovers would agree, no doubt. I surely do. But, the fact is, the number of Jaguar fans who love the older styling is tiny number compared to potential new customers who are considering, or already own, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Lexus, etc. It takes modern styling to attract buyers from this segment.

Cheers
DD

 

Doug I wish you weren't right about this.

 

So, the S-Type? The one that didn't do too well? The one that was discontinued for a reason?

As nice as it would be, if modern cars looked like that (as described above), they wouldn't have the same appeal. As sad as it is, new cars that have an older style won't sell well. The company needs to move forward. It's sad but true.

 

I don't like the idea of modernizing the looks of a Jaguar. It just isn't right. Maybe they could split production and have a Classic line that appeals to old school Jag lovers and a New Age line that appeals to modernists. Just a thought. And keep production in England, for God's sake!

 

Much as I love the looks of my 2003 XJ6 (X350), and the XJ6 Series 3 and Mark 2 I once had, I think time and style has to move on with everybody else. Sir William Lyons' first Jaguar was a Bentley saloon lookalike in 1935. He sold plenty of them. It looked like the Bentley, but cost 1/3 as much !

Sad as it may be, if you are off the pace with style, you just don't sell the cars. As the local main agent salesman said to me - "the people who liked the old style are either retired or dead". Well, I am not yet retired, but pretty close, but he is right, Jaguar has to be up there with the rest or die.

 

They didn't ruin them at first (this is the X300 forum right? LOL), but it didn't take them long to mess up a good thing.

 

More Jags for us.

 

I really don't mind the new S-types so much. I like how they kept the front look of the old Mark 1 saloons. Rear end not the most excited about. But I really don't care for the X-types. Those things can go away IMO.

 

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Dr. K of Datsun had no problem admitting that the 240z was a direct copy of the E-type. He just used a V6 instead of an in line 6. No convertible option to keep the cost down.

Jaguar will lead the way. They just need to freshen up. The other car lines will follow.