X-Type R postponed............ (archive)

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According to Autocar, both Jaguar F-Type roadster and X-Type R have been postponed, at least for a year. Suppliers to the F-Type have been told to hold the project for a least a year. Although Jaguar and PAG development chief Richard Parry Jones insist that the F-Type is still firmly in Jaguar's future plan, he
would not confirm the expected launch date, which was originally scheduled to be 2004.
Officially, Jaguar claims that their manpower is insufficient for developing the new XJ, X-Type wagon and next generation XK coupe simultaneously. They said first priority is to shift engineers to develop the X-Type wagon and diesel versions of X and S-Type to meet market demand, therefore has to sacrifice the niche models F-Type and X-Type R. However, insiders revealed that the decision was taken because under Ford's global cost-cutting plan PAG has to cut budget as well. The F-Type was sacrificed because Ford found its aluminium space frame chassis too costly to produce while its annual volume of 20,000 cars will mean little profit. They would rather send the engineers to develop variants of other mainstream models. The 330hp X-Type R is also postponed or maybe even cancelled, because it shares engine with the F-Type. Ford seems not very keen on these niche models.

With little doubt, we can guess that Wolfgang Reitzle had already known this before his departure from PAG. Perhaps this is also the reason for his resignation.

IMO, this is not necessarily bad. To establish itself as a solid competitor to the German premium brands, Jaguar has to sort out the problems for its mainstream models first. They had already done that to the S-Type, but the X-Type still sells disappointingly and is criticized as lack of quality. Marketing a niche model or high performance variants may attract more people into showrooms, but whether they will choose Jaguar over BMW, Audi or Mercedes still depends on the quality of products. Moreover, it is not an easy task to make the F-Type better than Porsche Boxster, nor M3 is easy to be beaten by X-Type R.

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