Jaguar F-type on hold

Jaguar F-type on hold

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Discussion

Synchrobox

Original Poster:

11 posts

264 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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News today formally announced by Mike Beardsley, Jaguar MD is that F-type will be placed on hold. Speculation is for at least a 2 year delay.

IPAddis

2,471 posts

285 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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Good. By the looks of the latest design, the sensible Ford people already appear to have up the design. The Saturday morning group (or Jaguar Performance Group) must be well off

I went to them at the 2000 motorshow and pleaded with them to just give me an F-Type without changing a thing (well apart from making sure it goes, stops and turns corners). Did they? Did they

Twin Turbo

5,544 posts

267 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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Hmmm, in two minds here. Firstly, I too was very dissappointed that the productuion version was swapping to a mid-engined design and the early sketches looked very bland - unlike the gorgeous concept car. However, Ian Callum can do very little wrong in my book (DB7, Vanquish, Jag R-Coupe concept) so I bet the finished article would have been something pretty special.

For my money though, I would have preferred Jaguar to go ahead with the XK180 concept (front engined V8/2 seats). This thing looks and sounds gorgeous).

I think now, that this is probably another reason for Wolfgang Reitzle leaving PAG. Ford are too scared to invest in brand new products. This cannot be good news
for either Jaguar or Aston Martin.

ErnestM

11,621 posts

268 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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Looks like one less for the US spec Elise to compete with when they bring it over. Bad move for Ford, excellent move for Lotus... (IMHO)

ErnestM

PetrolTed

34,429 posts

304 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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Where did you hear that? I've not seen anything from Ford on the matter.

synchrobox

Original Poster:

11 posts

264 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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News was sent out to employees by e-mail this morning at Jaguar's Engineering Centre. F-type on hold to release resource on other projects probably XK replacement and diesel X-type. Jaguar expected to make large loss this year unless it cuts back on development programs. It will be interesting to see if the Racing team survives the cut at season end. With no F-type it now does not make a lot of sense to be in Formula 1.

Twin Turbo

5,544 posts

267 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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Cool - so we get a FWD diesel saloon instead of a nice sportscar.

Just how much of Jaguar's F1 budget comes from Ford? I would have assumed a huge amount come from the team's sponsers. Marlborough's £30million a year at Ferrari pays for Micheal's wages!

JSG

2,238 posts

284 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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With a bit of luck the XK replacement will be a diesel powered front wheel drive only SUV

mtmrop

53 posts

268 months

Friday 17th May 2002
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All in all it's a big pity - it could have been one hell of a car. Still that's life i suppose.

Next bit of news to predict.......Ford selling Jaguar at the end of this year?????????

>> Edited by mtmrop on Saturday 18th May 17:19

sjc

14,004 posts

271 months

Sunday 19th May 2002
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Gutted, gutted, gutted, I've been on the initial waiting list since the beginning, and always thought it was probably too good to be true.

Paceracing

729 posts

267 months

Sunday 19th May 2002
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Sad news, dropping the 'F' Type. But the way it was going, Jaguar were screwing the initial concept up anyway.
Regarding the R&D budget, Jaguar should get out of F1 now. The whole Jag F1 chapter was stillborn from the start. The avarage punter is rapidly loosing interest in F1 anyway. Jaguar should get into the BTCC with the new 2.0 litre X-Type at the very least, and into the DTM with the S-Type, (if they are not already). If Jaguar did this, they would still have more than enough money left over from 6 months F1 budget to fund a team of 3 cars at Le-Mans as well!

Jas.

IPAddis

2,471 posts

285 months

Monday 20th May 2002
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The Jaguar F1 team isn't. It's a Ford F1 team plus some green paint. IIRC, Sir William Lyons said he would never enter a Jaguar into F1 as he didn't see the point. He preferred worthwhile racing like Le Mans (back when they raced proper modified road cars not one-off specials).

Motors TV on sky has Long Beach Trans Am where very evil looking XKRs are trouncing other GT cars. That makes me want a Jag more than any F1 success.

I would be even more likely to drive a Jag if they came up with a sports car in the line of the D-Type & E-Type instead of trying to copy BMWs 3 limo line-up.

At the end of the day, it must be down to the general public. Not enough people want uncompromising sports cars any more. You either have a fast saloon or a refined GT car. Sad.

Twin Turbo

5,544 posts

267 months

Monday 20th May 2002
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History repeating itself......

This'll be the second F-Type that Ford has cancelled (they canned the first project not long after buying the marque)

pjg

46,630 posts

276 months

Monday 20th May 2002
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Ford have pledged £1bn over the next 3 years for Jag's F1 exploits...

Twin Turbo

5,544 posts

267 months

Monday 20th May 2002
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As much as I love F1, £1bn should be more than enough to produce a world class sportscar (I wander what TVR's R&D budget is per car!)

simpo one

85,618 posts

266 months

Wednesday 22nd May 2002
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'I wander what TVR's R&D budget is per car!'

Peter Wheeler said (I think) that TVR can develop a whole new car for less than BMW spend on designing a dashboard.