Motoring: Jaguar launches teaser campaign for new crossover
JAGUAR has teased the new car market with a glimpse of its latest – and probably most intriguing – vehicle product.
The company has released a video (see below) showing JLR design director Ian Callum working on drawings of the vehicle which has gone on to become the four-wheel-drive F-Pace – the so-called Jaguar crossover.
The video is part of a marketing campaign leading up to the global debut of the new car at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.
The new car is a derivative of the newly-launched Jaguar XE and will be made on the same production line at Lode Lane as the new executive saloon and like the XE, it will also feature engines manufactured at JLR’s new factory outside Wolverhampton.
During a recent visit to the Solihull factory to mark the start of production of the XE, F-Pace body shells could clearly be seen ready for assembly.
However, the vehicle, which has emerged from the C-X17 concept, won’t be launched to market until next year.
Callum said earlier this year: “We received such an overwhelmingly positive response to the C-X17 concept car last year that we just had to make it a reality.
“The Jaguar F-PACE, inspired by the F-TYPE, represents a perfectly judged balance of performance, style and practicality. It offers a unique combination of Jaguar sports car inspired exterior design, fused beautifully with a thoroughly practical and spacious luxury interior. The F-PACE is our family sports car.”
JLR says the F-PACE will feature class-leading interior space and exceptional on-road dynamics with five-seat practicality.
“It will encapsulate everything that Jaguar stands for: beautiful design, precise handling, a supple ride, luxurious interior finishes and cutting-edge technology,” the firm said when it announced it would be putting the car into production.
Analysts are sceptical about the new car, mainly because it is seen as a direct rival to both JLR’s Range Rover Evoque and its new Discovery Sport.
Nevertheless, the company is confident of its product and the additional investment that has been ploughed into Lode Lane in terms of jobs and machinery underlines its ambitions.
In order to deliver the concept, the company has pledged to create another 1,300 jobs, taking its workforce to 32,000 – 10,000 more than were employed just four years ago.
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