Jaguar F-PACE rear-drive scrubbed for Oz

Jaguar's local F-PACE line-up – which is exclusively all-wheel drive in Australia – is unlikely to be joined by a rear-wheel drive variant available in the UK.

In conversation with motoring.com.au last week, during the local launch of Jaguar's first SUV, a Jaguar Land Rover Australia executive hinted that JLR had at least crunched the numbers.

"There's only about $3000 difference," said Brett Lewis-Driver, Group Product & Planning Manager for JLR Australia. That would leave insufficient separation between the rear-wheel drive F-PACE and the all-wheel drive version to make worthwhile the local introduction of the former.

Furthermore, the prestige brand is "not ready to sell on discounted price at this time," he observed.

Given BMW sells a rear-wheel drive X5, and Ford's rear-wheel drive Territory consistently sells in higher numbers than the all-wheel drive variant, an RWD F-PACE would make a lot of sense in Australia – particularly as its drivetrain would not detract from Jaguar's established image as a brand that appeals to driving enthusiasts.

Unlike FCA's Jeep brand, which has grappled with selling two-wheel drive models in its line-up, Jaguar Land Rover would be able to bring in the rear-wheel drive F-PACE without detriment to the long-established off-road credentials of the Land Rover brand.

But the RWD F-PACE sold in Britain is limited to a manual variant with the 2.0-litre diesel four-cylinder. Even if it could be priced well below the current entry-level price ($74,030), the rear-wheel drive model would likely sell in niche numbers at best.

More to the point, JLR Australia would be in no hurry to bring in such a variant when supply of even the more profitable models is likely to be constrained in the short term.

"F-Pace will be Jaguar's number-one selling model in its first full year," said JLR Australia MD, Matthew Wiesner. "XE will be a close second.

"We've got a few hundred pre-commitments and customer orders already in the system... a lot of 3.0-litre supercharged petrol and diesel – and that's expected in the first 12 months of a new-vehicle launch."

In other words, F-PACE will be in high demand initially, particularly for the more expensive variants. As demand for the V6 models levels out – which may be 12 months or more from now – the sales split will skew more towards the four-cylinder diesel F-PACE variants. Jaguar would not likely consider even speaking of a cheaper offering before that shift occurs.

JLR Australia anticipates selling the F-Pace at a rate of between 150 and 200 units per month.

However, the prestige brand is casting around to expand its SUV offering. In response to a question concerning a seven-seat SUV from Jaguar, Wiesner simply said: "That's a job for Land Rover..."

But he left the door open for speculation concerning the smaller SUV currently under development, and which media outlets around the world have dubbed 'E-PACE'.

"Now that we've done this [an SUV]... this question was being asked for a very long time in Jaguar... it will undoubtedly raise question after question about what's next, based on the opportunity that this will create. And so it should.

"We've got to build cars that customers want... that's ultimately what will influence where we go."