Jaguar to expand SUV range

Jaguar's design director Ian Callum admitted at the Frankfurt motor show two years back that he had once vowed he would never design an SUV.

The concept SUV at that show, the C-X17, has now morphed into a production counterpart, the F-PACE, which will make its global premiere in September at the Frankfurt motor show ahead of its Australian debut in late 2016. And Callum says he is "very excited about it, I think it's fantastic!"

Now it seems Jaguar is working on another SUV.

The premium British performance car brand has traditionally focussed on sports cars and luxury limousines, but even Callum admits the need for more SUVs, moving forward.

It's what customers want, he says, and so Jaguar is merely obliging.

But as with the F-PACE, which is being billed as a performance leader in the segment, with Porsche Macan-besting performance, Jaguar's next SUV will focus on dynamics and style rather than utility.

"There's lots of scope [for another SUV model]," Callum revealed during a round table interview at the New York motor show.

His colleague, Jaguar Land Rover's sales operations director – the money man – Andy Goss, concurred, explaining that SUVs were critical for sales growth.

"If you look at what's going to happen to the global market between now and 2020, in various price bands, those are the areas that are forecast to get bigger and bigger because they're global," he said of SUVs.

"SUVs work in developed markets, [and] in developing markets," he added.

"Land Rover is a global brand, Jaguar is not yet a global brand. I know it sounds silly to say, but it's true. There's developing markets around the world where Jaguar doesn't have a big presence at this stage, because it came from V8 rear-drive products."

Just as Porsche has done, Jaguar needs SUVs to grow, insists Goss.

So what will Jaguar's second SUV look like? Perhaps a two-door coupe-like SUV, akin to the Range Rover Evoque? Design chief Callum's response was unequivocal.

"No. If you did it nobody would buy it. You and I might like it but no one would buy it. Look at sales of two-door Evoke, they're not that high," he observed.

And a luxury seven-seat SUV bearing the big cat badge is also off the table:  "Categorically no. It can't be a seven seater. It's got to be sporty," he insisted.

Which leaves space for another five-door SUV potentially one size smaller than the Jaguar F-PACE, which is roughly the size of an Audi Q5 or Porsche Macan.

Perhaps an Audi Q3 or Mercedes-Benz GLC rival then? Callum wouldn't be drawn on where Jaguar's next SUV might slot into the range, but he said to expect the unexpected.

"Our job is to instigate and disrupt and come up with ideas. You have a generic business plan and business cycle and my job is to continue those products but also to come up with new ideas all the time.

"We've got two or three new models in the pipeline that are exciting and will surprise people.

"They're disruptive products," he grinned.