Jaguar denies J-PACE story

Jaguar will unveil its first-ever SUV on September 4, two weeks before the BMW X5-rivalling F-PACE makes its public debut at the 2015 Frankfurt motor show.

But a larger seven-seater luxury SUV from Jaguar is about as likely as a straight-talking politician, company executives have told motoring.com.au.

Reports from the US this month suggested that Jaguar will deploy the 'J-PACE' by 2019, a larger seven-seat SUV to slot in above the F-PACE but it's "pure speculation" said Richard Agnew, Jaguar's global PR director.

"I can categorically tell you that story was speculation," states Agnew.

"As far as I know [the story's author] hasn't spoken to anyone in the business about that. He didn't quote any sources. Of course we could do anything, we could build a hovercraft or an aeroplane ... but we have to wait and see what F-PACE does first."

Agnew reiterated the words of Jaguar's design boss, Ian Callum, who last month hinted that a small SUV is a possibility, but ruled out a bigger machine.

"Categorically no. It can't be a seven-seater. It's got to be sporty," said Callum during the 2015 New York motor show.

The big growth markets over the next decade are expected to be compact SUVs, and Jaguar is understood to be investigating a smaller SUV to rival the BMW X1, but it would require a new platform and therefore would be half a decade away at least.

"Once you got the core range established, the possibilities after that are endless," explained Agnew, highlighting the need for Jag to establish its volume models first – namely the new XE sedan and upcoming F-PACE.

Although Agnew wouldn't be drawn on F-PACE details, he revealed that first launch drives of the vehicle will take place around March 2016, "a bit less than a year away," but he also observed the company has too much on its plate to contemplate a new SUV in the short term.

"We had this conversation in New York with you guys. We could have started with all sorts of wild cars, but we wanted the core range in place. So we do XE, XF, then F-PACE. So, three all-new cars in 12 months is quite a lot for a company our size to do. It's quite a lot for a company VW's size to do!

"But I can honestly say no decisions have been made yet [on other SUVs]," he concluded.