Jaguar has been around for nearly 80 years, but it’s seldom been smooth sailing for the brand. Since 1966, the company has had four different owners, and the two most recent—Ford and Tata—struggled to push the automaker into profitability. The problem wasn't Jaguar's identity.
For decades, the brand was a staple for lovely looking sports coupes and fast luxury sedans. The problem was that no modern automaker could survive on sedans and sports coupes alone—even Porsche had to build the Cayenne. Ironically, Jaguar saw the writing on the wall earlier than most.
After Tata Motors purchased Jag and combined it with Land Rover in 2008, it built out its lineup in a hurry: A trio of sedans to rival the Germans—including a worthy BMW 3 Series competitor—the timeless F-Type sports car, and an electric crossover called the I-Pace. With Land Rover focused on more rugged SUVs, it seemed like JLR had every base covered. For more than a decade, Jag was steaming ahead on a seemingly unstoppable run.
Sales rose precipitously between 2011 and 2018. But by 2022, its numbers had shrunk nearly right back to where the company had started. Now, JLR has officially discontinued every single Jaguar model except the F-Pace—and even that SUV isn’t long for this world.
We laid out the reasons for this automotive calamity in a previous article . In short, Jaguar was battling in hot segments where it couldn't compete on price, it was never truly profitable as a result, and its path to makin.
