Jaguar XJ sedan replacement confirmed

Jaguar design chief, Ian Callum, has confirmed that the British automaker will replace the current XJ sometime in the future. He also revealed that the company was planning on developing new model lines instead of new body styles for its existing range of models.

Talking about a new XJ, he said: “We’re looking at that now, and other things, too – other car lines, additional ones. [We’ll] continue to grow.”

Speaking to our sister publication, Autocar UK at the LA motor show 2015, Callum did not specify from where the growth would come but did say that a capacity crunch would stunt any immediate new models.

JLR’s three production facilities in UK are expected to hit maximum production capacity of 6,50,000 units once the production of the F-Pace SUV and XE sedan are fully ramped up. The company is currently in the process of developing a fourth facility in Slovakia, due to open in 2018.

“JLR doesn’t want to be BMW or Audi in size,” he said. “Chasing volume relentlessly is a problem. We don’t have aspirations for more than a million a year between us. You can lose prestige.”

He also said that the company was unlikely to follow its German rivals and develop multiple body styles for the same model and would instead look to add more models to its line-up.

When asked about a model smaller than the XE, Callum said his team were “continuously talking about a smaller Jaguar” but added there was “nothing planned” for a production model. He also ruled out a return of the XK.

As for the XJ, Callum believes the design of the current car “still stands out on its own. People think it’s brand new if they haven’t seen it before”. He hinted that there was a push within the company to make the next XJ more practical, but he believed it should still major on style.