The End Is (Very) Near for Gas-Powered Jaguars

We’ve known for some time—and you have too if you’re a regular reader—that Jaguar, as we know it, is in trouble. Sales have cratered, the dealer network is shrinking, and future electric products may or may not connect with current Jaguar enthusiasts, who are a dying breed.

The uncertainty facing the brand has even negatively affected the Jaguar collector car market. “Jaguar, as a brand, is on the rocks,” according to a story we published last month. Vintage Jaguars, the story says, “are getting harder to sell, and over the past five years many prices are either stagnant or decreasing.”

“On the rocks” may be a strong statement, but a story in Road & Track suggests that it may not be inappropriate. As the brand moves to an all-electric future—sooner, rather than later, in 2025—the transition, so far, looks rocky. An interview with Joe Eberhardt, Jaguar Land Rover’s North American president and CEO since 2013, makes it apparent the brand realizes it is alienating core Jaguar enthusiasts.

“Obviously we don’t want to leave anybody behind, especially since the brand has such a history,” Eberhart told the magazine, “but there does come a point where you just need to focus on the future. It may not be a brand for everybody, and that’s by design… I can’t tell you exactly what percentage of current Jaguar owners we will leave behind, but clearly given the positioning of the brand and the vehicles we will lose some clients along the way. It’s a difficult decision to make, but brands need to be focused and to decide what their purpose is. We just knew that we didn’t want to be another volume luxury brand, that is not something that aligns with the Jaguar philosophy.”

Jaguar and Land Rover have been owned by Mumbai, India-based Tata Motors since it bought the brands from Ford in 2008. Ford had no real clue what to do with the Jaguar and Rover, and many in the industry assumed that when they were obtained by Tata, the storied past of each brand may be lost. But Tata has been a patient benefactor: It essentially allowed both Jaguar and Land Rover to proceed on the path that seemed the most natural.

That turned out to be the correct strategy for Land Rover, which is a fully realized brand, but not Jaguar. R&T points out that sales of Land Rover’s products this past year totaled nearly 280,000. During that same period, Jaguar’s global sales were fewer than 43,000. Contrast that with 2017, when Jaguar sold 179,000 vehicles.

Jaguar Land Rover announced a year ago that it would invest more than $19 billion in the company’s “industrial footprint,” which, when it comes to Jaguar, means electricity. So Jaguar is bent on changing direction. Three years ago, when electric power seemed like a near-immediate solution, Jaguar said it would go all-electric by 2025. Now, when other manufacturers are dialing back electric production based on slowing sales, Jaguar is forging ahead. According to Jaguar’s website: “Jaguar will transform into an all-electric luxury brand by 2025, with uniquely expressive vehicles defined by pioneering technologies and visionary design.”

Jaguar is initially planning on at least three electric vehicles, the first being a “four-door GT” that the company announced a year ago. It will have a starting price of $124,000, Jaguar said.

The F-Type, powered by a 5.0-liter supercharged V-8, starts at $77,900, and is still selling well into its concluding year. “F-Type celebrates the final model year, and 75 years of Jaguar sports cars,” Jaguar says. If that sounds like this is the end of 75 years of sports cars, that may be true.

“The majority of our products cease production in June, but they will be on sale for a much longer time,” Eberhart said. “We will have a production schedule that enables us to have a continuous supply of vehicles until the new cars come… We’re trying to time it so we have enough volume to take us through to the launch of the new product and have a clean handover.”

The brand’s U.S. dealer network is also taking a hit. Eberhart told R&T that “more than 40 have already voluntarily surrendered their franchises.” All Jaguar dealers will be integrated into the Land Rover network, if they aren’t already, leaving “between 120 and 130” dealers that sell all the Jaguar-Land Rover products.

One thing is clear: That Jaguar internal combustion engine’s exhaust note will live on, perhaps, as we told you last July, but only in a library.

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