From the “This Can’t be Good Dept.” comes this news: Jaguar will not introduce any new models until 2025, at which point all current models will be phased out.
This comes after Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bolloré axed the long rumored and long awaited all-electric replacement for the Jaguar XJ sedan, reportedly at the very last moment.
In somewhat better news, Jaguar will also attempt to reposition itself in the market, to compete more against the likes of Aston Martin and Bentley, and less against BMW and Mercedes. This according to the French newspaper Le Monde, as quoted by several sources.
Happily, Jaguar does seem to have at least one model that current customers are more than eager to purchase. According to CarBuzz, there’s a three month waiting list for Jaguar’s only surviving sedan (in the US market anyway), the Jaguar XF.
Presumably Jaguar’s owners, Tata, were the ones who hired Bolloré. And also presumably, they’re supportive of his plans for the future of the marque. That must mean that they’re down for one hell of a Hail Mary pass.
The XF is six years old, going on fifteen, depending on whether you count from the introduction of the original XF or just the facelift model. The F-Pace is five years old, the E-Pace four, and the I-Pace three.
More worryingly, Jaguar’s “halo car,” the F-Type, is already seven years old. Even older if you count the introduction of the C-X16 prototype.
Tata must keep Jaguar on life support for four more years, at a cost we can only speculate, and despite an increasingly aging product lineup. And they have to do this until the new electric models are ready for prime time in 2025.
That’s four long years of nail biting for Jaguar employees and for the rest of us. Let’s just hope the 2025 models will be all they can be, and enough to save the storied marque.