There’s something I’ve been wondering about regarding the history of Jaguars in the USA and Canada that I’m hoping a more knowledgeable enthusiast might be able to clear up. Having been a Jaguar fanatic since I was very young I have always known that the legendary “XK” inline-6 – the engine that truly “made” the brand – was consigned to history in 1987 after a nearly 40 year lifespan, but I’m embarrassed to admit that I only learned a few years ago that the Series III XJ sedans continued production with 12-cylinder engines all the way into 1992. Here in the States the last of the Series III XJ’s were being sold in the fall of 1987. By the end of ’87 the XJ40 models were rolling into US showrooms. I can still remember the sense of loss I felt as a teenager reading articles in Road & Track magazine about the replacement of the SIII with the XJ40. I had grown up from childhood loving the XJ6, and like many other enthusiasts I felt the new car was inferior in many ways to what it was replacing, especially in terms of looks. So we Americans were deprived of those last 5 years of SIII production because of the strange decision to stop marketing the XJ12 in the States when the Series II production run ended. And yet, the SIII V12 was for sale in Canada all the way through ’92, and I’ve seen some gorgeous late production Canadian market SIII XJ12’s right here on this site.

I have never understood why the Series III XJ was only offered to the American market with the inline 6. We know it wasn’t an issue of emissions or taxes because the V12 XJS was on sale here from the time it was introduced until its long production life ended in 1996, and it sold very well. Considering that the USA was by far Jaguar’s largest market, it baffles me that the V12 sedan was never offered here after 1978, when it was available not only in Canada but throughout most of the rest of the world as well, including places where fuel was far more expensive than it was here. It seems to me that Jaguar would have been well served by having the XJ12 available Stateside where their stiffest competition, the Mercedes-Benz 380SEL, had a small V8. I don’t have the numbers at hand but I bet an XJ12 would have blown the doors off a 380SEL, not to mention the prestige of such a “flagship” car could have commanded an astronomical price and thus providing what I imagine would have been a healthy profit margin for the company. And of course it would have sold to the right types of buyers during the “greed is good” 1980’s.

Can anyone who might have more insight into the minutiae of Jaguar history explain this strange discrepancy in marketing? I’d sure like to know the story of how this decision was arrived at.



P.S. –

A small mea culpa: I realize that due to the long shadow of its older sibling the XJ40 gets no respect. Even at the time, I knew that it was still a better, more exciting car than 97% of what was on the road when it came out, and like the Series III it seems to have aged very well. The death of an icon shouldn’t be blamed on its progeny, so I give a “thumbs up” to those on the forum keeping their XJ40 models going.

 

One of Paul Skilleter's books will give you the commercial perspective. Jag had been absorbed into British Leyland and lost direction and spirit by the series II xj6 period (when management and therefore build quality was awful). The Pininfarina Series III face life bought time to launch the xj40, but by then the xj6 styling and engineering was very long in the tooth and losing out in the market to Lexus and other brands. William Lyons, who had dominated Jag until the early 70's was gone and the future was very uncertain. we all know about the wiring and other build quality issues...

A good very detailed read here http://www.aronline.co.uk/cars/jagua...aguar-xj6xj12/

 

My understanding is that Jaguar decided it would be too difficult, or perhaps impossible, to meet CAFE standards with both the XJ12 and the XJS being on the market.

It was a late decision. A USA-spec Series III XJ12 was fully developed and a few ( some say 6, others say as many as 41) actually made it to USA shores before Jaguar pulled the plug.

Cheers
DD

 

Doug that is my understanding also. Fortunately we have been able to save all the technical data from Canada. As far as we know this seems to be the only collection that covers that model through its life. Comparing the technical bulletins to the WSM and SPC a lot of development continued.



This was all rescued when Jaguar Canada reorganized and downsized in 2010 or so.

 

[QUOTE=Doug;1859693]My understanding is that Jaguar decided it would be too difficult, or perhaps impossible, to meet CAFE standards with both the XJ12 and the XJS being on the market.

Wow, that's probably it. Why didn't I think of that? Its amazing that that never occurred to me in all these years. Then again, what sane person can keep track of all these "regulations?"
Thank you for the insight, I bet you hit it!

 

That's an interesting looking treasure trove!

Given that the xj-s was essentially a sport bodied xj12, the CAFE issues Doug mentions seem questionable to me. If the xjs12 was on the US market, surely the XJ12 could have been too given how similar their running gear was in this era? I suspect the focus on simplifying model range at Jag in that time period, which was very successful commercially, was the main reason. Jag was rebuilding reputation after the series II low point in build quality, and marketing an XJ12 as well as the SIII6 might have been too much to deal with?

 

The XJ12 and XJS would deliver the roughly the same [not good] fuel mileage....and that was the problem. The CAFE standards apply to the entire model range of cars sold by a manufacturer so the 'mix' of cars being sold is critical. In other words, xxx-number of XJ6 sales + xxx number of XJS sales would provide the right mix to stay within the requirements and avoid penalties.

If the "CAFE" explanation is true then I suspect Jaguar anticipated that the XJ12 offering would detract from XJ6 sales, thus upsetting the balance of the mix....especially problematic given that the XJ6 itself didn't turn in particularly good fuel economy numbers.

Just speculation on my part, obviously.

Cheers
DD

 

That makes sense and conforms to the Egan logic of the era, some of the most successful years commercially for Jag's discipled and profit focused marketing internationally at that point prior to the XJ40...

 

Oliver I think there were other factors at play as well. As an example I drove a 6 cyl XJ-S in 1983 from a test fleet in the US. While still under development for Fed. regs. it did pass smog and such. It was a powerful brute and some of them still survive. While tested in the US in almost all conditions including loaning them to folks like me to flog they were not on the order list. The best answer to the why is that the v 12 tooling was yet paid for and the 6cyl with 5 speed would kill v 12 XJ-S sales. I am sure it would have. So while Europe and other ports had the 6 the US needed to sell the v 12 but as Doug said only in a mix with the XJ6.

 

Now that does make sense, and explains why the 1st gen AJ6 XJS was never offered here and the later (post 1987) models, while I have seen a handful, are thin on the ground. But as I said in my original post, the status of a brand new XJ12 would have been irresistible to a certain segment of the market back then, especially considering Jaguar's main competition had nothing like it, and while I can understand that they might have been worried about a less expensive variant like the 6-cylinder XJS taking the shine off its more expensive V12 line mate, it doesn't make as much sense to me that the opposite would be a concern. Understanding CAFE laws as much as I do (though I doubt anyone who's not an actual lawyer can truly understand them), a company's fleet is "averaged" in terms of the mileage of all the models they offer for sale, and without meeting a certain standard, a fine is levied. Mercedes-Benz, as an example, was covered in this area since they had a line of (comparatively) thrifty 4 and 5 cylinder diesels for sale in the States at the same time they were selling higher performance cars. Other companies who's cars were priced at levels that made profit margins high (Ferrari, Lamborghini, other "supercar" makers) just paid the fine and raised the sticker price of their cars accordingly without affecting their sales. Jaguar would be been squeezed right in the middle...and that really is the only reason I can think of that the Series III XJ12 was never offered here.

I won't pretend to understand European laws, but I do recall reading a few years ago that Aston Martin had been forced into the indignity of putting their badge on some awful SMART car (its called the Cygnet), and they did this because they had to do it in order to avoid some huge penalty for not having a fuel efficient "fleet." I don't know if that was a UK or EU mandate (to my knowledge we haven't seen a Lamborghini economy car yet), but in the end, the takeaway is this: there's no cool possibility in the automotive world that government bureaucrats can't ruin for us. Those of us who lived through the 1970's and '80's learned that lesson all too well.

 

Amen to US cars in the 70's. No power and terrible fuel mileage. Add to that the weird styling of American cars ... well, truth is pretty much everything was weird in the 70's. Thank goodness for proper Jaguars which were and are a thing of beauty.

 

PMD 400
The first Jag you buy will probably (hopefully) not be the last Jag you buy.
In all the foregoing discussion there are a few basic points. I am also in Australia and am current on "what goes."

Series 1,2,3 XJ6 cars are great but they are getting old and all suffer the same problems of rust, engine corrosion in the alloy head, and generally lack of maintenance. It does rain in Australia and rust does happen!
I have owned a S3 XJ6 for over 30 years and the rust/fuel pump/ injector issues have been an ongoing issue. If you do get a S3 XJ6 put a fuel filter in front of the fuel pump.

As a resident of the fabled COVID free land of OZ I suggest you have a look at a couple of alternatives as suggested.
Nobody really loves the XJ40 and they are available as cheap as chips. The trick is to get the later model ones (1992) which were a complete revamp of the earlier models car electrics and other assorted problems.
They are easy to pick. The early ones have the battery In the engine bay. (Don't even contemplate one of these!) The later (good) ones have the battery in the boot.

These later model XJ40s are nice cars and pretty close to the following X300 series in driving and creature comforts. I drove one for 4 years and only sold it after getting into X300s
For some weird reason I have found that the 3.2 litre engine models always seem to be better maintained and in better condition than the 4 litre versions.

Whichever way you go the AJ6 engine fitted to the XJ40 and AJ16 fitted to the X300 are streets ahead of the old XK engine fitted to the S1,2,3 XJ6..
I know of one case of an AJ6 making 600,000 Ks ie 360,000 miles without any engine work. The fuel economy is very good with around 29 miles per imperial gallon on the open road and around 23 in the city.
The best I ever got out of my S3 Xj6 was 22 MPG on the open road

I really recommend searching for an X300. They have great lines and heaps of grunt and are the last of the real Jaguar 6 cylinder engines.

Steer clear of the later V8 models (1997 on)as they have timing chain problems. Typical failure around 100,000 miles or 160,000 Ks. I just caught mine (X308) at 170,000 with bits going every where
I have acquaintances who will not sell their X300 cars because they believe they are the best Jag sedan ever made and I personally endorse this as I have owned most sedans from MK5 on.

Bill Mac
Ex a dozen or so Jags
Currently only 5 Jags.
MK1,Mk2,S3XJ, X300. X308.

 

emissions and politicians. But the 12 cylinder was indeed sold from 1970 in the US. There are still Series 1, 2, and 3 XJ-12 around, if mostly abandoned. In Nashville Tennessee the Jag dealer used to have them in the 1980's. But when the XJ40 made its debut in 1988 in the US, the Series 3 was "passe'", treated as old shoe. The New 40 was the new attitude.

I have a friend in Nashville who had two Series 2 twelves in various states of decay.

Funny how they allow toxic black smoke Diesel vehicles to pollute the air but they attack clean old cars like the XJ.

 

Oh Boy! Bill Mac! are you talking my language. I have a X300 and I don't care fo the the V8's either. I don't even like the sports models either. The seats are different too. I like the plain traditional seats that look like leather. The others look like most others cars to me. As you say Bill the 3.2's have probably been looked after better because they weren't just bought for speed. Iv'e noted this. (Different type of buyer) Now a lot of the readers here might chop my head off for saying this but I never liked the Jaguar V12's. I could never see the point in them except for those who just had to have the V12. Jaguar might have made a better choice with a V8 back in the 70's and I would have probably gone for one of those. But today I'm into the straight 6's or even the new F Type four cylinder. I only wish they had come up with that type of motor for the X Type instead of the awful V6 I have in mine.( And even just a rear wheel drive instead of the transverse design)The V6 is probably OK in the XJ220 but I don't like it in the other practical car. Again I think it is all about the Juvenile mentality, and or the one up man ship mentality that encourages the car makers to make cars that are not practical but sell well. We the buyer can be our own worst enemy. And that has a lot to do with why we are not seeing new cars like the likes of the older beautiful unique Jaguar car designs, and instead seeing over engineered cars that just look like one another. The modern car buyer should be more careful of what they wish for. But then that is hard to do when shows like "Top Gear" tell us very little about cars but everything about BHP, speed, performance and very little about good unique design, beauty and practicality.

 

Excuse me, but a mere "Like" did not feel sufficient for this photo.

WoW...very nice. Bookshelf on the right as well.
Thanks for sharing.

That is all..over and out

Ok, PS: While I have never particularly been into models, I have purchased a few to remember my past cars.
I know they can sell for a fair sum although I have yet to actually see some of the high tier names I've come across.

The two I seem to see on your bookshelf look impressive. The top one, barely visible, possibly Lyons' S1 XJ6?
Don't wish to go off topic, however If feeling in the mood and just goofing around, would be nice to see close ups of the models.
Take care