Tata boss Ratan Tata has revealed that Jaguar’s future lineup will feature more sports cars and saloons but definitely no SUV, reports Automotive News. His reasoning is that a Jaguar SUV would steal sales from its sister company Land Rover, which solely produces off-road models.
Instead, Jaguar’s immediate future will see the plans of former parent Ford carried out. These include the launch of the facelifted XK range next year, a new range topping XKR-R model, and the next-generation XJ saloon in late 2010.
Beyond that, Tata has revealed plans for a new lightweight sports car to rival the likes of the Porsche 911, and late last month registration details for several Jaguar trademarks revealed the names C-XE and XE, which suggest the new sports car will be called the XE and a concept version the C-XE. All of these newer models will be targeted at taking the Jaguar brand further up-market.
Both coupe and roadster versions of the XF are believed to be in the works as well, meaning Jaguar could soon have an essentially all-new lineup to offer buyers.
Despite Tata’s reluctance to develop a Jaguar SUV, a number of rival carmakers are keen to expand their respective lineups with bigger and more powerful off-road models. Alfa Romeo’s boss Luca de Meo has pointed out on a number of occasions that the company needs an SUV model to be successful in the United States, and BMW is currently preparing two new performance M models based on its X5 and X6 SUVs.