Jaguar Execs Discuss Crossover “Every Day”

Jaguar Execs Discuss Crossover “Every Day”:

If you comb through sales stats for any luxury automaker, you’ll see that the volume is usually driven by two vehicles: an entry-level sedan and a crossover. Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Lexus have built their U.S. product lines around this business model. With a revitalized Jaguar trying to take a larger slice of the luxury pie, crossovers are on the brain in Coventry. “We discuss it lots,” Jaguar’s design director Ian Callum tells us. His colleague, global brand director Adrian Hallmark adds, “We’re very aware of what the world wants.”

The notion of a Jaguar crossover might bring back memories from when Porsche launched the first Cayenne—the word “heresy” hadn’t seen in such heavy use since the Spanish Inquisition—but with Maserati pulling the sheet off a Jeep-based SUV at this year’s Frankfurt auto show, the shock of a sports-car company planning a crossover has subsided.

What’s holding Jaguar back? It’s an issue of resources—and, in the short term, there are more pressing needs. Even though the company’s new owner, Tata, has been eager to pump energy and money into the brand, Jaguar can’t do too much at once. In the next few years, the company is adding all-wheel drive to the XF and XJ—and spending a lot of money to do so—launching a two-seat sports car, which was previewed with the C-X16 concept, and producing a new V-6 engine derived from the company’s well-liked V-8.

Still, Hallmark is ambitious and determined. “We want to deliver the right products to the right markets,” he says, citing the new four-cylinder diesel that’s an absolute must in order to sell XF-sized luxury cars in Europe. Jaguar also added a V-6 to the XJ’s engine lineup in China, because 90 percent of S-classes sold there have sixes. And adding all-wheel drive to the XF and XJ was done especially for the American market. These moves were made quickly, and have been specifically aimed at meeting demands for products. Even if a diesel Jaguar is tough to swallow in concept, as Hallmark reminds us, “This is still a business.” So long as it doesn’t seriously contrast with the brand’s image, Jaguar’s boss is ready to pull the trigger on the products that will sell. With that in mind, a Jaguar crossover seems more like a question of when, not if.