FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: First Jaguar SUV almost certain

Jaguar is not yet ready to confirm the C-X17 SUV that debuted in Frankfurt this week will go into production. But an announcement to that effect has become a practical certainty.

The reason for that is data received by Jaguar from a media monitoring research company. According to the data compiled the C-X17 has been roundly welcomed by the specialist media and readers. In fact, the positive feedback factor is 95 per cent, as motoring was told by a Jaguar exec in Frankfurt yesterday.

It's one of the primary gateways for acceptance of the C-X17 for production. However, Jaguar's Global Brand Director, Adrian Hallmark, explained to motoring.com.au that for the moment he cannot confirm that the SUV will enter production.

"I'd love to, but I can't," Hallmark said at the Frankfurt show.

"What I would say, totally honestly: we don't do these for fun... concept cars. And we don't say that we're going to do something if we genuinely don't know whether we can or not – that there could be financial or technical or other factors.

"The reason for showing this right now is it adds colour – literally and metaphorically – to the whole architecture and saloon car story; it allows us to test this in public rather than doing product clinics, although we've already done a few of those as well, with a few hundred people.

"But we want to test Jaguar in the kind of crossover-type off-road direction, Jaguar to Land Rover – how does that work for people – and the design itself, because if you'd never seen F-TYPE, I think it works as a design, but when you see it with F-TYPE, it carries some of those [styling cues]...

"We want to test the design, test the fit of Jaguar outside its traditional segments, and get people thinking differently.  Being very honest, it's to try and shift people's perceptions. The good news is we've done it with integrity, which means that the only things that are illegal, or not proven,  are the door mirrors – because they're too small... the fog lights... although they look fantastic, and the seats [which] wouldn't pass any crash test...

"Apart from that, the physical object is 'do-able'. So we've done it with honest intent; it's a public research project, it's an image-shift project, and – subject to the right feedback and a little bit more internal spreadsheet work and lobbying -- who knows...?"

Although Hallmark didn't reveal this, it's understood that the delay in announcing a production model based on the C-X17 is due in part to the manufacturer's status as a publicly listed company, and therefore a consequent legal onus on Hallmark in his position to say or do nothing that might jeopardise share prices.

But the media research data and the vehicle's own readiness for production makes C-X17 production all the more likely – as soon as 2015, if reports prove correct. For the moment, however, Jaguar won't make official what everyone's gut instinct tells them will be nothing more than a matter of form.

"We'd love to do it, but we can't confirm yet," Hallmark reiterated.

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