Jaguar Bertone B99 Concept Will Never Be Built

Italian design house Stile Bertone surprised the audience of the 2011 Geneva Auto Show with a new concept called B99 concept about which voices from within the automotive industry said it could preview a future Jaguar model. That's not the case however, as the Bertone concept will never be built and was only designed by the Italians to demonstrate their potential and prove that their financial problems are not an obstacle to build fascinating projects.

Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar's global brand director, said in a statement that Bertone's B99 concept was not supposed to serve as a successor to the X-type and that the prototype isn't meant to preview a future Jag.

"I saw it for the first time yesterday," Adrian Hallmark said in a statement on the sidelines of the Geneva Auto Show. "It is not our concept. We appreciate the fact that Jaguar is interesting enough for people to do a concept around. It's not that we are offended by it, or against it -- it is just not for us."

Jaguar confirmed on the other hand that a small sedan is very likely to hit the market sometimes in 2013 or 2014, but the design is yet to be developed.

"We want to access these new segments," said Hallmark. "We have concepts all over the place," he added. "A lot of work has been done. We have so much room to grow to get to a normal level of performance. We did not have XJ for most of the year. The potential for us to improve is driven by lack of product the year before."