You'll probably remember Jaguar pulled the plug on the electric-only XJ right before the next-generation model was supposed to be officially revealed. French auto analyst Inovev reported the smaller XF and XE were taken out of production from the plant in Castle Bromwich back in March. However, a spokesperson for the British brand denies the rumor in an interview with Automotive News Europe by saying the two saloons are still being assembled.
Jaguar has pledged to fulfill existing orders and accept new ones for the XE and XF sedans, with the latter also available as a more practical Sportbrake wagon in certain markets. However, you'd better arm yourself with a lot of patience as there's an average six-month wait to have the car delivered. In a statement made to ANE, the Tata Motors-owned brand admitted its supply chain has been greatly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic as well as by microchip shortages.
Gallery: Jaguar XE 300 Sport and XF 300 Sport
To say the XE and XF are not the most popular models in their respective segments would be quite an understatement. Excluding China, global sales of the former amounted to only 416 in the first four months of the year during which the latter generated 974 sales. Yes, Jaguar only sold a combined 1,390 XEs and XFs outside of the People's Republic. Demand was much higher in the world's most populous country as the locally built long-wheelbase XEL found 3,263 new homes in Q1 2022. In the same interval, the stretched XFL was acquired by 2,990 people.
As a refresher, the writing is on the wall for both cars as well as the E-Pace, F-Type, and F-Pace since Jaguar will be transformed into an electric-only brand by 2025. Only the I-Pace will continue beyond the middle of the decade for an unspecified amount of time before making room for a new wave of EVs. Meanwhile, there won't be any new product launches as the long-rumored J-Pace large SUV has been killed in its infancy.
The reinvented Jaguar will focus on profit margins rather than volume in a bid to go up against the likes of Aston Martin and Bentley. Consequently, production capacity will greatly decrease, and quality is said to benefit from "dramatic improvements."
