Jaguar’s common platform and next S-Type cancelled, future uncertain

Newswheel staff :: 07 March 2006 :: Filed under Coupe, Saloon, Jaguar, Jaguar S-Type, Jaguar X-Type, Jaguar XK8, Europe & UK, US

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Death by inches?

Yup, you really have to get all the ingredients just right to succeed with a premium Euro car brand. The failure of the current S-Type and XJ models, both good cars with fatal weaknesses – think dodgy styling and platform heritage for the former, and mismatched cutting edge technology and antediliuvian aesthetics for the latter – is a case in point. Nothing less than full commitment, therefore, will do. So, what to make of Ford’s decision to shelve plans for a unified aluminium platform? Well, folks, it ain’t good.

The first and most worrying casualty of the decision, announced by Lewis Booth, head honcho of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group, is the mid-range S-Type model. Originally pencilled in to be the first model based on the new flexible architecture, the next S will now very likely be built on a buffed up version of the existing car’s platform.

Exactly how the XJ and XK models, both built on Jag’s current cheap-to-engineer-but-expensive-to-manufacture aluminium architecture, will be effected isn’t currently known. However, given the fact that the new shared architecture was clearly intended to enable Jag to actually turn a profit from these relatively low volume models, as well as provide a more sophisticated platform for the S-Type, it’s hard to see where the company goes from here.

Yes, the new platform would have been expensive to develop – $1 billion or more is the going price for this sort of kit. And Ford isn’t exactly flush right now. But this isn’t the sort decision made by a management team bristling with commitment and confidence. It’s the sort of decision that tacitly acknowledges Jaguar has no future with Ford. So we beg you Ford, do the sensible thing. Sell Jaguar now while it’s still clinging on to life, don’t grind it into the dust.

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