RE: Jag: we got it wrong
Discussion
Janesy B said:
Very unusual for execs to admit they got something wrong.
It's all part of the marketing campaign for the new small Jag. Making sure people realise that the new car won't be the 're-badged' Mondeo that most people seem to think the X-Type was. Mostly thanks to Clarkson.What have I been saying? The X-Type wasn't a bad car, but the public perception of "it's a reskinned Mondeo" (regardless of how good said Mondeo was) killed it.
The new RWD platform (with 4WD option) sounds encouraging. They could do well to bring back the Rover brand to slot in between Jaguar and Land Rover, too, using the same platforms - a sort of upmarket British Subaru.
The new RWD platform (with 4WD option) sounds encouraging. They could do well to bring back the Rover brand to slot in between Jaguar and Land Rover, too, using the same platforms - a sort of upmarket British Subaru.
I felt sorry for Jaguar on the X type.
It was a very good car dynamically, and looked good later in life when they butched up the front end a bit. But the Mondeo tag hindered it. However, of all the mass market cars, Mondeo was the best platform.
To see the Audi A4 go from strength to strength, with no-one talking about Skoda/Seat/VW lineage and components, must have been galling for Jaguar who fundamentally had a better basis for a small saloon.
It was a very good car dynamically, and looked good later in life when they butched up the front end a bit. But the Mondeo tag hindered it. However, of all the mass market cars, Mondeo was the best platform.
To see the Audi A4 go from strength to strength, with no-one talking about Skoda/Seat/VW lineage and components, must have been galling for Jaguar who fundamentally had a better basis for a small saloon.
This story seems to be re-writing history. What made the X-Type different to its competitors was the popular AWD option: in fact it was only available as AWD at launch. I can't see any mention of that in the article: instead they seem to be making out that this new model will be out of the ordinary because 4WD will be an option.
Edited by LotusOmega375D on Wednesday 18th September 10:46
I remember a guy from work testing one and saying it didn't feel well engineered. I thought "Idiot. WTF is he talking about??" and yet when I first opened the door of one I knew what he meant. Plastic small door handle and thin doors. It just felt less 'quality' than it should have. Shame really as (as said earlier) overall it was a very good car and owners seem to love them.
LotusOmega375D said:
This story seems to be re-writing history. What made the X-Type different to its competitors was the popular 4WD option. I can't see any mention of that in the article: instead they seem to be making out that this new model will be out of the ordinary because 4WD will be an option.
The X Type was only 4WD because the Mondeo is a FWD car and Jaguar could not bring itself to sell a FWD car and so they took the 4WD version - it was such a cheap trick, all that engineering and weight just to tick a box which says 'not FWD' (it remains FWD biased IIRC??)The X-Type remains THE most disappointing car I've ever driven. I was a huge fan of the original Mondeo (the first regular-joe car to actually handle) and it's successors have generally been fine cars, but the X Type was awful. You steeled yourself to get past it's cliched looks and it's 'tacked-on' interior gimmicks only to find there isn't even the spark of the Mondeo chassis there - it's been 'softened' just enough to make it a "Jag' - from the 'fat guy's sofa' school of Jags...
Maybe the 2 I drove were broken - but it matters not now because they've consigned to be minicabs or worse now.
p.s. many people said that the Mazda Xedos 6 was the proper 'small Jag' and having driven one, I can only agree with that. By trying less hard it did more.
Actually, the X-Type broke quite a lot of new ground for Jaguar. First diesel and first estate. Nobody bats an eyelid at Jaguar selling diesel estates now, but 10 years ago when they were first introduced the press were up in arms about the fact that the X-Type was spoiling Jags heritage.
Redlake27 said:
I felt sorry for Jaguar on the X type.
It was a very good car dynamically, and looked good later in life when they butched up the front end a bit. But the Mondeo tag hindered it. However, of all the mass market cars, Mondeo was the best platform.
To see the Audi A4 go from strength to strength, with no-one talking about Skoda/Seat/VW lineage and components, must have been galling for Jaguar who fundamentally had a better basis for a small saloon.
I thought the Mundano was a pretty good platform to base the car on - in itself a competant enough motor surely?It was a very good car dynamically, and looked good later in life when they butched up the front end a bit. But the Mondeo tag hindered it. However, of all the mass market cars, Mondeo was the best platform.
To see the Audi A4 go from strength to strength, with no-one talking about Skoda/Seat/VW lineage and components, must have been galling for Jaguar who fundamentally had a better basis for a small saloon.
Over the last year or so, I've found myself 'noticing' X-Types about (I think this might be a contemporary signal that one is officially "over the hill") and thinking they look pretty handsome, especailly the estates. The V6 engine sound a belter too - basically half of an Aston V12, sort of.
The xtype 4WD estate was alright.
It is interesting to see how the nature of car making has changed so much. Ford made a mess of Jag and were taken for a ride when it was sold to them. Peter Egan managed to sell it for 3* it's real value without Ford even seeing the factories (fortunately).
GM got bitten badly by Fiat and Fiat made a fortune in the end.
Chrysler is now owned by the Germans and Detroit is no more.
The American companies can no longer rely on pile them high sell em cheap because other countries do it better and they have really struggled to match BMW, Merc in making high quality cars. Their efforts to export domestic production have largely failed.
Traditionally their home market was a well protected but this is also no longer the case. 8/10 cars sold are not built by domestic manufacturers. Ford makes the other 2, the Focus and Mondeo. Detroit has closed and many car companies now have successful factories in the US. Even the truck market and tank SUV will come under pressure.
Ford seems to be the only maker in the US to have used its European engineers to make cars it can them use globally. The Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo are really unrivalled as global cars.
Jaguar is now a 1000 times better out of Ford's ownership.
Shame but it seems when the US is opened to competition on an equal basis it is losing.
It is interesting to see how the nature of car making has changed so much. Ford made a mess of Jag and were taken for a ride when it was sold to them. Peter Egan managed to sell it for 3* it's real value without Ford even seeing the factories (fortunately).
GM got bitten badly by Fiat and Fiat made a fortune in the end.
Chrysler is now owned by the Germans and Detroit is no more.
The American companies can no longer rely on pile them high sell em cheap because other countries do it better and they have really struggled to match BMW, Merc in making high quality cars. Their efforts to export domestic production have largely failed.
Traditionally their home market was a well protected but this is also no longer the case. 8/10 cars sold are not built by domestic manufacturers. Ford makes the other 2, the Focus and Mondeo. Detroit has closed and many car companies now have successful factories in the US. Even the truck market and tank SUV will come under pressure.
Ford seems to be the only maker in the US to have used its European engineers to make cars it can them use globally. The Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo are really unrivalled as global cars.
Jaguar is now a 1000 times better out of Ford's ownership.
Shame but it seems when the US is opened to competition on an equal basis it is losing.
I was given a 2.2 diesel as a courtesy car while my XJ40 (ford keys! annoying) had some work done. The guy at the Jag specialist assured me i would be won over by it's 'Jagness', he was wrong, slow, noisey and the windscreen wipers have little ford logos you can see all the time.
still £990, http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2013...
a machine at that money.
still £990, http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2013...
a machine at that money.
300bhp/ton said:
The irony being that the current and popular Jag XF is built on the Ford DEW98 platform, shared with the Ford Thunderbird and Lincoln LS and related to the Ford D2C platform used by the Ford Mustang.
But radically updated for 2002 model year S type and every derivative since and so not really shared at all anymore.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff