San Francisco: It is impossible to ignore the giant strides Jaguar has made as a brand over the last few years, and a regular feed of new models is largely responsible for its increasingly high profile. It seems as though the trickle of new models is going to turn into something of a flood as the company looks to adjust to a very different future for the automotive industry. It’s just been revealed that a new model to be called the J-Pace is in the pipeline to take on the Porsche Cayenne, but it turns out there are a further eight models also on the Jaguar horizon in the coming years.
The J-Pace is inevitably going to be yet another new SUV, which is hardly a surprise after the sales success of the F-Pace and the positive reaction to the new I-Pace. This all-new model is scheduled to arrive in 2021 with the Porsche Cayenne firmly in its sights, but it will have a brand new shape and will be built on the same platform and using much of the running gear from the Range Rover. Where the J-Pace will differ from its Land Rover cousin is it will be a considerably more road-focused model than the go-anywhere, do-anything Range Rover.
Unfortunately, the other new models on the horizon are going to be a lot more familiar than the all-new J-Pace. In fact, what we’re really talking about are new-generations of existing models and the potential reprise of an old favorite.
The XE is set to be renewed in 2021, and the XF is due to get a new version in 2022-2023, and both are expected to be produced in long-wheelbase versions for the Chinese market. A new version of the F-Type is scheduled for 2020, which some suggest will have a new, own-brand straight-six under the hood and a hybrid version has also been promised. The F-Pace is doing well, especially in the US, and a plug-in hybrid is due along with a facelift in 2019, but it won’t be until 2022-2023 that we get a new generation. The I-Pace we already know about, but success could potentially see it produced in the UK, China and even India as well as Austria where it’s being made initially. The E-Pace will get a hybrid powertrain in 2020 and a facelift probably a year later, and a new all-electric XJ is due next year.
The XK is the name that looks as though it could be making a comeback, but it’s likely to have an all-electric powertrain and make use of the XJ’s architecture. The last version of the XK (last produced in 2014) was an out-and-out sports coupe and convertible, but it’s believed a new XK is more likely to be something like a grand tourer based on a modified version of the XJ body shell.
AFP