X-Type is gone after all too.
Jaguar kills X-Type in N. America
Mark Rechtin
Automotive News
October 15, 2007 - 12:01 am ET
LOS ANGELES — Jaguar Cars will yank its dismal-selling X-Type sedan from the North American market.
Production for North American dealers will end in December. The sedan will disappear just as the XF arrives in showrooms next spring to replace the mid-sized S-Type sedan.
"This will reposition the brand upscale," a Jaguar source said.
Killing the X-Type will restore the brand's prestige, says dealer Ken Gorin, chairman of Jaguar's business operations council.
"There shouldn't be an X-Type left on the day the XF is shown to the public," said Gorin, co-owner of The Collection in Coral Gables, Fla., a multiline store of high-end luxury car brands. "The X-Type is the exact opposite of where we need to be."
Owner Ford Motor Co.'s attempt to compete with the BMW 3 series and Mercedes C class was a flop. Sales in the United States have fallen steadily since the X-Type's launch in 2002, when 33,018 units were sold.
Even generous lease deals have failed to move the metal, as shoppers frowned on the cheap plastics and poor packaging of an old design on a Ford Mondeo platform.
Sales fell to 21,542 units in 2004 and 10,941 in 2005. At that time, Jaguar left the car out of its new "Gorgeous" marketing campaign. Sales plunged to 5,214 in 2006. Through September of this year, just 2,403 units were sold.
The X-Type will be sold elsewhere in the world through 2010, when production is expected to end. In Europe, Jaguar sold 22,240 X-Types in 2006 and 9,901 through August.