it is said that Ferrari makes 60.000 usd on every car they sell… it is not volume that is the issue… it is desirability of the product… the fact is nobody wants the current lineup of mobile suppositories. Dump Callum get a new marketing team, re brand the whole company to reflect the upwardly mobile clientelle they wish to attract… These people want a vehicle their friends desire… not a mommy wagon.
Automotive styling for mass-produced cars is at a stalemate. If we consider the post WWII era the “modern” era for the automobile, 75 years of styling and development have pretty much turned styling into a been there, done that exercise, especially when it comes to proportions.
You can still do radical things with details (like “edge” or “flame” styling) but most people would consider those fad-like details, just like bell bottoms, skinny jeans or French cuffs.
For the mass market, beauty doesn’t trump practicality anymore. Cars that have limited headroom, are super hard to get in and out of, or have limited legroom are not big sellers. And you can’t sell cars that don’t meet safety regulations. All those restrict styling.
The only real way to advance car styling is to escape those limitations with new technologies that break the packaging restrictions. That’s why the electric cars like the Tesla and even the new i-Pace are the ones that look striking compared to other current models. You can’t style those cars the way they are if they have regular internal combustion components.
The XK180 was just a show car. The non-Ford Jag CX-75 is just as striking. I’m sure Jaguar could make the F-type more of a challenge for the XK180’s styling, if Jaguar decided not to include a roof, a tiny windscreen, and made it a foot longer. Alternatively I doubt the XK180 looks so cool if you have to give it a real windscreen and some form of top. How many people will buy a car with no weather protection?
Jaguar stopping using the DEW98 platform in 2015.
Dave
I hate to say it because I really love Jaguar, but Ferrari has a desirability factor that Jaguar can only hope to approach, let alone equal. A fair percentage of the value of a Ferrari is because somewhere on that body is a chrome of a Cavallino Rampante. Ferrari also enjoys fierce customer loyalty
Take the same vehicle, strip off the Ferrari badges and slap on Jaguar and a leaper and the car is not nearly as desirable. It takes years to build that kind of reputation and customer loyalty. How is Jaguar to finance the R&D and ramp up to profitability on high end cars, aprocess that could take years?
agreed but the Ferrari brand has been carefully polished for about the last 18 >20 years, since about 2000. If Jaguar had done the same rather than going with the idea that more is better… they would be in a similar position… If Aston can do it on a fraction of the budget… so can Jaguar… but the only way it is going to happen is t completely re jig the whole company… starting with giving Mr Callum his walking papers. remember the XJ220 was built on a shoestring… in after hours skunkworks… There is nothing wrong with the car… I love mine… but it stopped there… why was the XK180 not built… or the CX-75… or the original F-type, or… the list goes on… They have the talent but not the balls.
And they rust just as badly as Jaguars do, and cost an arm and a leg to fix. Pretty sparse inside too and noisy!.
you may be correct but how may basket cases do you find on BAT ? And those that do turn up are generally worth restoring… remember the 250 that sold through Artcurial a couple of years ago for 20 million euros… and required a full restoration… better investment than a clapped out MkII