Photo: designrm.wordpress.com
For quite a while now, Jaguar, the emblematic brand from the UK has been experiencing some financial difficulties. Their sales are not as big as everyone expected and the research and development funds they put into the new F-Type didn't help either.
That’s why the management team decided that it would be a good idea to try and enter the compact sedan segment, to rival such cars like the 3 Series, A4 and C-Class, all of them reaping most of the sales in this segment. The move was confirmed by Jaguar at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show and they also announced a release year: 2015.
However, if this model doesn’t rise up to the high expectations the management team has, it could spell doom for the troubled British company, as one official said to Autocar earlier this year, under the protection of anonymity:
“This is the only choice as Jaguar is not viable at 60,000 units. If the X760 fails, it will be probably be the end for the brand,” said their source, the X760 being the code name for the new model.
It is also said that the new car will be evolving into an estate and a crossover version, to rival the Touring and X3 models from BMW. However, they will have a really hard time penetrating the market, as the two Bimmers are very popular and on the rise, at the moment.
The goal of the company is to reach 80,000 units sold per year and about 15,000 should come from the new model, which doesn’t look like a lot. However, considering that Jaguar sold only 12,011 cars in the US in 2012, you might get what I’m trying to say here.
I, for one, hope that the model will be well received and the world will take kindly to it. Not because it will mean trouble for the 3 Series (let’s face it, the new C-Class is a greater threat) but rather because I really like Jaguar, its legacy and especially the new F-Type, in which I had a blast while we test drove it this summer and would hate to see it crumble under financial problems.
However, if this model doesn’t rise up to the high expectations the management team has, it could spell doom for the troubled British company, as one official said to Autocar earlier this year, under the protection of anonymity:
“This is the only choice as Jaguar is not viable at 60,000 units. If the X760 fails, it will be probably be the end for the brand,” said their source, the X760 being the code name for the new model.
It is also said that the new car will be evolving into an estate and a crossover version, to rival the Touring and X3 models from BMW. However, they will have a really hard time penetrating the market, as the two Bimmers are very popular and on the rise, at the moment.
The goal of the company is to reach 80,000 units sold per year and about 15,000 should come from the new model, which doesn’t look like a lot. However, considering that Jaguar sold only 12,011 cars in the US in 2012, you might get what I’m trying to say here.
I, for one, hope that the model will be well received and the world will take kindly to it. Not because it will mean trouble for the 3 Series (let’s face it, the new C-Class is a greater threat) but rather because I really like Jaguar, its legacy and especially the new F-Type, in which I had a blast while we test drove it this summer and would hate to see it crumble under financial problems.
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