XE and F-Pace to Give Jaguar Momentum, Double Annual Sales

Jaguar has major plans for the future, and it has already laid the groundwork that will attract interest in the brand and its model line-up. That groundwork comes in the form of the XE compact entry-level luxury sport sedan and the F-Pace crossover. These two vehicles are entering the North American market this year in the most affordable and most popular segments respectively.

Jaguar has also worked to dispel the dubious reputation it had for poor quality and reliability. Indeed, Jaguar vehicles have come a long way from the temperamental, but beautiful British sportscars they became known for. By offering Jaguar Elite Care "best-in-class coverage, with a five-year, 60,000-mile [warranty], including scheduled maintenance" Jaguar has put its money where its mouth is to assuage any hesitance potential customers may have.

And the brand also made the smart decision to continue to offer manual transmissions, understanding that a performance car customer would demand it, especially when competitors are not any longer.

With brand new models entering these highly lucrative segments, as well as a newly replaced XF just revealed, Jaguar Land Rover's Joe Eberhardt expects that Jaguar sales could double in 2016, from last year's 14,466. That surge in sales and revenue will position Jaguar to offer some niche vehicles that will benefit from an increased interest in the brand. As Eberhardt told Automobile Magazine:

“So the business really is about momentum, and you need one or two cars to spark the initial interest that allows you to reap the benefits and advantages of the rest of the lineup. We think that’s what’s going to happen with Jaguar this year.”

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So what can we look forward to once Jaguar's momentum really picks up?

Assuming the success of the F-Pace, Jaguar may move forward with the development of a CUV based on the XF and the XJ.

The brand is also working on autonomous technology, though the details on that are fairly scarce.

“We have a research center in Portland, on the West Coast, which is mainly focused at this time on the Human Machine Interface [HMI] and the connectivity aspect of it, and application development. But I could also see them playing a bigger role in driver assistance systems, and semi-autonomous systems, longer term. … We’re working on a lot of things, none of which is the focus of announcements, at this time. We’re not talking about it.”

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There has also been hints that there will be electric Jaguars on the market by 2018, as reported by AutoGuide.

While no one at Jaguar will go on record to verify an electric model is in the works, they may not have to. Speaking to AutoGuide at the New York International Auto Show, brand design director Ian Callum confirmed that a “big surprise” is coming for Jag.

“Within two years, we’ll have something that’s not driven by a petrol engine,” he said, before joking that it’ll have, “just a couple of hamsters.”

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Jaguar's future is looking bright these days.