No matter how much some of us scratch our heads in utter confusion as to why wagons don’t appear to be the ideal body style for a four door car to most people and therefore prompting more automakers offer them in more (if not all) models, the reality doesn’t seem to see things quite the same.
Jaguar, it would appear, isn't planning an estate version of their smallest sedan, the XE. The news, as reported by Autocar, comes from the British automaker’s head of design, Ian Callum, following the ironic introduction of an all-new XF Sportbrake. This is in spite of the fact that the XE’s closest opponents - from the German trio - all have a wagon version on the market, BMW 3 Series Touring, Audi A4 Avant, Mercedes-Benz C-Class Estate, a market that Callum describes as “vicious”.
Callum’s justification for the new XF Sportbrake’s existence hints that Jaguar did indeed have the internal incentive to introduce a wagon variant for the smaller XE, but that adjustments had to be made due to the “clearly quite challenging” sales outlook for wagons and the strategy shakeups made by the arrival of new management already making the business case for an XF Sportbrake fairly difficult.
“The Sportbrake market is fairly static. From a business point of view, an XE Sportbrake is not an easy car to make happen. And it would be very challenging pricing for an XE [version].
In a similar vein, Jaguar is focusing on wagons of another sort as they are embarking down the SUV path for the first time, starting with the F-Pace and soon to be followed the by the more compact E-Pace. In his opinion, the introduction of the E-Pace and what it holds for the company’s future prospects would be “changing the landscape completely”.
Indeed, these types of vehicles are the central focus for Jaguar at this point as the segment continues to attract more and more customers, but how this plays out alongside sibling Land Rover will be an interesting feat of contortion to spectate.
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