With only a three-month warning, Jaguar released a dramatic statement. In June, production of its two sedan models, the executive car XE, the saloon car XF, and the sports car F-TYPE will be discontinued.
The move comes after a sustained decline in the company's sedan sales and the sportscar that is 10 years old and will mark the end of one of Britain's most famous manufacturing sites: Castle Bromwich in Birmingham. The site where Spitfire aircraft and Lancaster bombers were produced during World War II, and which was acquired by Jaguar in 1977.
The production halt is part of the transition to manufacturing only electric vehicles by the British manufacturer, the sister company of Land Rover, both owned by the Indian Tata. Originally, the electric XJ was supposed to continue production at the factory, but the project was canceled in 2021, in favor of two other electric models: a GT car that will compete with the Porsche Taycan and a large crossover that will compete with the Bentley Bentayga. Both will be produced at the Jaguar Land Rover factory in Solihull.
In the coming year, Jaguar will sell only its pair of gasoline engine crossovers, the E-PACE and the F-PACE, and the electric I-PACE. The former and the latter are produced for it by Magna in Austria, and only the F-PACE is produced alongside Land Rover models in Solihull. In any case, Jaguar primarily sells its crossover models today. Even in Israel, 27 Jaguar cars were sold in 2023, none of which were XE, XF, or F-TYPE.
The Birmingham plant will undergo a conversion to produce components for the new electric models.