Jaguar was once a brand synonymous with British luxury and opulence. Over its almost 90 years in business, the brand has produced some of the most recognizable models in any segment, from the curvaceous E-Type sports car to the stately four-door XJ6, and the record-breaking XJ220. Fast forward to the present, and Jaguar has axed all of its models except for the F-Pace SUV. Yikes.
Jaguar’s current owner, Tata, purchased the brand from Ford in 2008 and combined it with Land Rover, bringing two of the UK’s most well-known names under the same roof as JLR. By 2018, Jaguar was competing in the three big segments: sedans with the XE, sports cars with the F-Type, and SUVs with the I-Pace. The issue was that long-standing brands like BMW had more recognizable models that took the cake from Jaguar’s proverbial plate.
Reputation from the 1980s and bad sales plagued the British brand
Jaguar has also had a long-standing reputation for unreliability, largely stemming from the Lucas electric components used in British cars in the 80s. Even when that wasn’t the case, the association lingered, leaving many people jaded about purchasing British cars. This sentiment was echoed by Car and Driver in their period review of the 1980 Jaguar XJ6 and likely persisted long after Lucas went out of business.
Another issue, and one Jaguar themselves cited, was money.
“We are eliminating five products, all lower value,” JLR CEO Adrian Mardell told investors in July of this year. “None of those are vehicles on which we made any money, so we are replacing them with new vehicles on newly designed architectures.”
Jaguar is aiming for a six-figure electric future starting next year
That newly designed architecture is, you guessed it, fully electric. The Jaguar Electrified Architecture (JEA) is set to launch in 2025, with a concept car due later this year. This move hasn’t sat well with everyone. After the announcement, Canadian Jaguar dealers announced they would sue JLR over damages and anticipated plummeting sales once the EV models are rolled out.
What those models will be is yet to be announced. Jaguar has mentioned that the lineup will consist of three vehicles, with at least one SUV. They also intend to move upmarket with their new electric cars, aiming to compete with brands like Bentley.
In an interview with Top Gear , Jaguar’s managing director Rawdon Glover said, “With every decision we make, we ask ‘is this going to make people think about Jaguar the way we need them to?’ If it doesn’t make them want to pay £120,000 ($156,890), we don’t do it.”
Considering the lackluster sales of previous Jaguar models, it’s hard to see why customers would be willing to pay six figures for one now. Maybe this gamble will pay off for Jaguar, unlike the ones they’ve made in the past. I wouldn’t mind seeing another sedan from a major brand, even if it is electric. Whether or not a $100,000 Jaguar outsells a Bentley, you can be sure we’ll tell you all about it.
It's very sad this happened as management under British Leyland and the current Owners who are inept and incompetent have led to this with an asinine decision to stop building cars with ICE and going EV which was a fatal mistake as it failed in the early 1900 and it failed today. Ford Motor Company was it's saviour and its sad they sold it. William Lyons must be spinning in his graves he should have kept his company separate.
Warren Catalucci
1h ago
The real problem is that Jaguar manufactures an unreliable and high maintenance vehicle in a factory with poor quality control where Rover is also manufactured. Stay away from them.
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