Jaguar’s Saloon Cars Will Die This Summer As The Company Goes SUV Only

Jag’s lineup will temporarily be a brand that solely sells SUVs as it gears up for the production of its new generation of EVs

Mike Bartholomew

05 Mar 2024

Until 2016, Jaguar had never built an SUV. Come summer, they’ll temporarily be all the company is making. As reported by Automotive News Europe, production of the F-Type sports car and XE and XF saloons will wind up in June this year, and the factory in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham that builds them will be retooled to produce body panels for Jag’s next generation of EVs.

We’ve known the end is in sight for these cars for a while. The F-Type, which entered production in 2013, was confirmed to be on its way out late last year with the announcement of the ZP Edition, a 150-off, V8 run-out special. Indeed, the F-Type has been unavailable to order on Jag’s website for a while, with current production likely taking place to fulfil existing orders.

Jag’s duo of saloons have long been on borrowed time, too. The 3-series sized XE and larger, 5-series rivalling XF are both nice cars with good designs and sorted chassis – we got on rather well with the XF Sportbrake estate when we tested it recently. However, dropping demand for saloons and the domination of German brands means they’ve long been slow sellers: in 2023, Jaguar shifted 9935 XEs and 10,918 XFs worldwide – far less than the equivalent BMWs, Audis or Mercedes.

The end of production of these three models means Jaguar’s range will consist of the larger F-Pace, smaller E-Pace and all-electric I-Pace, all various takes on the far more popular SUV/crossover formula.

The discontinuation of the XE and XF is significant – it’ll be the first time in the brand’s history it hasn’t had a saloon car of some sort in production. We won’t have to wait too long until the four-door Jag returns, though. After confirming in 2021 that all its future cars would be electric, the first of these cars is set to arrive in 2025: a four-door ‘GT’ in the vein of the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT.

Nevertheless, it’s always disappointing to hear about any good, characterful car meeting its end – even more so when it’s three of them.

The first full sentence spoken by an infant Mike was a review of the ride quality of a Volvo 850. It was “Daddy’s car goes bumpy-bump on a bumpy road,” so would probably need proofreading a bit, but it was a start.