Hoping for a Jaguar Wagon? Dream On, Says Ian Callum
Jaguar’s design chief just broke the hearts of that tiny, tiny group of enthusiasts who were holding out for a new Jaguar wagon.
Ian Callum threw an ice cold pot of tea onto speculation that the British automaker would offer a wagon version of one of its new sedans, telling a group of auto journos in London that they were done with estate cars, Automotive News Europe has reported.
The reason for this has a lot to do with why Callum and the journalists were in the same room. The event concerned the 2017 Jaguar F-Pace, the automaker’s first crossover SUV.
Only British drivers want a British wagon, and that’s not a big market, explained Callum. The U.S. and China aren’t interested in them, either.
“The world’s biggest wagon market is Germany,” he said to the crowd. “And what do Germans buy? They buy German cars.”
The last wagon Jaguar produced was a version of the previous-generation XF. Before that, it was a version of the lowly X-Type, which Queen Elizabeth II once used as her personal car.
Crossovers and SUVs offer universal appeal in all markets, and they will be Jaguar’s main focus from now on, Callum said, adding that he expects the F-Pace to become the brand’s best-selling model.
Purists were shocked when Jaguar started talking up the idea of a utility vehicle, but the revenue-generating capabilities of such a model can’t be ignored. Just ask Porsche about that. Hell, ask Bentley, which had to boost production targets for its quarter-million-dollar Bentayga SUV.
Expect Jaguar’s utility offerings to multiply if Callum’s predictions about the F-Pace come true.
[Image: Jaguar Land Rover]
More by Steph Willems
Comments
Join the conversation
As long as any word resembling "Lucas" is out of the conversation, Jaguar has one less Hex or Albatross keeping it from moving forward.
And on that bombshell, nobody outside the internet cares. Now that Jag is in the CUV business, a station wagon is waste of resources, even in Europe where handful of people possibly still buy them. Of course, it's stupid for Jaguar to be making CUVs, too, since they've been under the same ownership as Land Rover for most of the last 40 years.
I can't wait until the CUV fad collapses and these late sellouts are left holding their tallywhacker. That will be funny. Hahahahaha! LOL!
The reality of the world we live in is that the Jaguar F Pace has a 9 month waiting list and is outselling the entire Jaguar range. People don't buy sportscars in enough numbers any more and even cars like the 3 series are loosing ground to SUVs Jaguar will now proceed to make a whole range of SUVs which is kind of sad in a way but on the other hand it will probably finance future F types