Sad news, Jaguar fans: the storied marque’s model lineup is about to get a whole lot slimmer. Automotive News reports that the last current Jaguar to remain in production will be the F-Pace SUV, as all other models have either already received the axe, or will be killed off before 2024 is through. For the British brand, the era of internal combustion will end with a whimper rather than a bang, and there’s something disheartening about that.
While early warning doesn’t make the news any easier, we saw something along these lines coming. The Jaguar XE sedan, XF sedan, and F-Type sports car are already dead, and we already knew that the E-Pace compact crossover and the I-Pace electric crossover would be on the chopping block by the end of the year as Jaguar launches its grand electric vision.
However, what is surprising is Automotive News’ report that Jaguar CEO Adrian Mardell stated those five models had “close to zero profitability.” How do you end up with something like a subcompact luxury crossover with near-zero profitability? Aren’t those things supposed to print money?
Well, Jaguar got caught in the mainstream luxury rat race. Aiming for Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW is all well and good, but catching up with the Germans is a fraught game as only a handful of automakers managed to do just that. Jaguar hadn’t been a mass-market luxury brand for decades, and as models like the E-Pace blurred the line between Jaguar and Land Rover, models like the XF were great to drive but just didn’t hit the sales mark.
Then there’s the reality that for the past decade or so, Jaguar has launched new models and then just never replaced them. The XE sedan is nearly a decade old, as is the XF. The F-Pace is eight years old, and the F-Type is nigh-on 11 years old. By model-cycle standards, those are all ancient, and even though they’ve all seen facelifts, they’re all overdue for replacements.
This makes me extremely sad….it could and should have been so different for Jaguar https://t.co/l53FJli8Un
— Wayne Burgess (@waynejburgess) July 15, 2024
If this all feels like a depressing way to end an era for a brand that’s made some incredibly cool stuff over the past fifteen years or so, you aren’t the only one. Wayne Burgess, chief designer of the original XF and lead designer of the F-Type, wrote on X, “This makes me extremely sad…it could and should have been so different for Jaguar.”
The fact is, Jaguar’s modern history is filled with great what-ifs. The C-X75 was a properly cool successor to the XJ220 that just never ended up happening. It made a brilliant appearance in Spectre, and one of the cars from the film has been made road-legal, but that’s largely the extent of that. It’s the same deal with the canceled X391 XJ sedan, which was rumored to be an electric flagship sedan with a combustion-powered range-extender, a best-of-both-worlds solution for quiet luxury motoring and grand touring alike.
The last current Jaguar to remain in production prior to the introduction of an all-new all-electric lineup is the F-Pace SUV, and while it’s a nifty BMW X3 alternative, the fact that it’s the last combustion-powered Jaguar is a bit sad. Ever since Jaguar and Land Rover shared North American showrooms, Land Rover was the SUV brand and Jaguar was the car brand. That the F-Pace is the only model deemed worthy of surviving speaks volumes to the changing tastes of consumers.
If Jaguar’s all-electric plan lives up to promises, it could result in a properly opulent model line that restores some of the past splendor the brand is revered for. However, with the electric luxury car market already heavily saturated, we’ll just have to see what the future holds.
(Photo credits: Jaguar)
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*sad face*
They had good cars. The sedans drove well. The F-Type was brilliant. But Jaguar lost their way somehow and it has now come to this.
At this point I’m not sure why this brand still exists.
My 2001 XJR still feels like a Jaguar is supposed to. Bigger outside than it needs to be, but somehow still seems athletic. Smaller and more intimate inside than you would think, given the outside size. Even at 23 years old, the interior still smells of leather when you first get in, and my better half still has a smile and a little laugh almost every time she gets in it. It’s just pure emotion.
Then that 4.0 V8 and the supercharger whine as it kicks you in the butt, just a little bit. The XJR suspension is a little tauter than the standard XJ8, but not too much, you still feel like you are being whisked down the highway, as opposed to riding.
Not sure how Jaguar gets that back, at this point. Glad I have my old girl in the garage.
They still make Jaguars? Who knew!
I just came here to say p-face. Is that allowed?
Basically nothing of value has been lost. Maybe the plan to go up market will help. If they just make an actually good looking automobile, they’ll have a leg up on basically everyone else
I saw X391 plenty of times and it wasn’t that good. L392 was much, much better and would have knocked people’s socks off.
What exactly was the L392 supposed to be?
I cannot possibly comment….
Yeah I should have expected that hahahaha
That’s a shame because they could have had a niche with range extended EVs in the luxury segment. I suppose they still could…
Jaguar isn’t going to survive much longer. It sucks, because despite the profound and consistent terrible mechanical engineering that’s pretty much been their norm for the last 50 years, they have always made desirable cars. What has always separated Jaguar from the pack (pun intended) is how emotional their products are.
You don’t want a Jag. On paper they’ve never made sense. They’re very expensive, they’re usually several years behind their competitors, they’re unreliable, they’re inefficient, etc. What you do is you lust after a Jag. It’s not logical. They seduce you. They’re gorgeous. They make incredible noises. They exude style and class. You know you’re going to be in for a world of pain eventually but you still take her home because you can’t help yourself.
I personally don’t think you can put a price on that. In an era of anonymous greyscale electrified crossovers Jaguars still stand out. They’re one of the few companies still making cars that are old, in a good way. I’m not anti EV, but I just do not think Jaguar can replicate what makes their cars desirable without their ICE powertrains. The logical side of your brain goes kaput as soon as you hear the roar of a supercharged V8. Your monkey brain takes over, and you know what?
That’s okay. Like that one fling you’ll never forget despite the fact that it never led to anything but hangovers and unanswered questions, the Jaaaaaag is here for a good time, not a long time…and in an automotive landscape dominated by anonymity and stat sheets, that’s something we need more of, not less.
Goddamn does this bum me out.
This pretty much sums up how I got into mine.
My well to do enthusiast aunt had a V6 F Type for years. She traded it in on a Panamera a few months ago…and all she talks to me about is how much she wants her F Type back. This is her third Porsche too and she recently did the Richard Petty racing experience…so suffice to say she knows her shit, and if she says nothing can replicate the Jaggggg experience I’m inclined to believe her.
I have a family – so mine is the XF type S. I just love it. But it currently has:
Brake pad low warning on – not true
TPMS warning on – not true
Drivers window wont go auto up
Both rear doors will not open from the inside
Serve Required light on
Coolant low light – sometimes on – also false
A month ago i made an appointment at Jag to get all this sorted, there was a 2 month wait to be seen./
*Clarkson voice*
But you ‘ave a Jaaaaaaaaaaag
There’s a really reasonably priced XE S for sale at the Jaguar dealer near me, its gorgeous, its black, with black leather and alcantara. Like when am I ever going to be able to buy another Supercharged V6. But sensible brain says walk away. Brain vs heart is sometimes hard.
You can’t go wrong with the supercharged V6 or V8. Both are fantastic. I’ve occasionally seen people say “I had to settle for a V6 F Type” and I’m like “my brother in Christ, you are not settling”.
i have the supercharged six in my XF S – mine is a 2016. The best bit is the engine, it really gets up fast, and pulls strong. All kinds of sensors and lights are on right now, and the Dealer will get those sorted, but the engine, that bit has been great so far.
Their electric vehicles are known for charging quickly. People who road trip seem to like them.
For just a moment Jaguar nailed it. The 1995-1997 XJ6s are fantastic to drive, with a supple silent highway ride, near Toyota reliability, and the interiors look and feel bespoke. It was both reliable and felt like a real Jaguar. You could feel the soul of the S1 in it.
The XJ8 that followed was faster, but felt a little cheaper inside and the ride was less polished. There were some great Jaguars after that, but you could feel the soul of the marquee slipping away. They began to drive and feel less special, and more like every other generic German luxury sedan.
I hope the new EV can refind that soul without completely losing touch with the aspirational, but not stratospheric, pricing that has always been a part of Jaguar DNA. But I have my doubts.
Maybe we can finally get a convertible EV.
You’ll get gray crossovers and you’ll like it, mister!
The entire luxury car segment spent much of the 00s and 10s trying to be the German brands. Now they seem to have collectively decided it was the wrong thing to aim for. Even the German brands seem a bit lost these days.
*looks at the black F-Pace in the garage*
*pours out a bottle of sparkling water for his fallen compatriots*
It would be a lot less sad if we had a diminutive G-Type, a two-seater EV with proportions like a D-Type, similar size, weighing under 3,000 lbs, and super streamlined to get 300+ miles range on a small-ish 45 kWh battery, with like 500+ electric horsepower.
JLR would find a way to make that disappointing.
Maybe they can start making sidecars again?
I can’t decide if that is more or less sad than the last Oldsmobile ever being an Alero.
Or the last Pontiac being a G6, at least the last ever Mercury was a Grand Marquis
That was a sad one too.
More, from my pov.
For most of my life, Olds had provided the sort of car you’d get as a rental if you needed a car that you and your colleagues could use to travel to the important business meeting. Such was the Alero. Same for why the final Mercury was a Grandma Marquis, b/c really, what other car typified Mercury as well as that one?
But for a long time, Jaguar was still this icon of sporting luxury performance. Not Teutonically cold and precise, or Nordic funky, but the seeming personification of some old adventure movie where the hero wears a tie, is good with his fists, and gets the girl. So it’s way sad that a lackluster SUV is how it all goes down.
I guess. But at least Jaguar will still EXIST, and maybe will make awesome electric cars? Maybe??
What really killed Jaguar was not the SUVs and smaller sedans, it was putting dull BMW like interiors in them instead of Jaguar interiors. It made them seem cheap and generic rather than special and part of a historically significant brand.
And the stupid rising shifter just felt like a fragile gimmick, exactly the wrong sensation Jaguar needed to give its customers.
That’s a good point; the old interiors had a real romance and unique warmth to them, sorta an automotive equivalent of the old print J. Peterman catalog.
They just didn’t have the money to give them decent interiors, or to keep developing the cars to remain competitive. I had seen all the previously planned Jaguar stuff, and one maybe two projects aside (which were genuinely mind blowing) nothing of value was lost.
The leaping cat has grown old, fat and tired. It has now curled up for a nap that it may not wake up from.
Everyone needs to read this as if it were said by David Attenborough
This post actually made me feel sad.