February
6 2008 Jaguar
may widen XF diesel line
Continuing
green pressure and rising fuel prices could force Jaguar into introducing a small-capacity
diesel engine in the new XF saloon in coming years. The
bulk of sales of Jag's competitors in the UK, the BMW 5-series and Audi A6, are
concentrated on two-litre diesels but Jag doesn't have an alternative to these
low-C02 models at launch. It
does offer circa-two-litre turbodiesels from a JV with parent Ford and PSA in
its smaller X-type line. "We
will just have to keep an eye on where the market is going and if customers start
demanding it, we will have to respond," said Jag product development chief
Mick Mohan. The
decision will also depend on how Jaguar sees its future brand image. It may prefer
to limit sales and concentrate on higher-output engines. The
XF does have a 204bhp 2.7-litre V6 Tdi diesel engine option, a competitor for
BMW's 525d and Audi's A6 2.7TDi. Its 37mpg fuel economy and 199g/km C02 emissions
are typical for the engine size, but a long way off the UK company car tax-friendly
140g/km of the 520d and 166g/km of the Audi 2.0Tdi. Jaguar
engineers are understood to have designs for small capacity diesels on the drawing
board, but not to be actively developing them. It
is likely to look into the Ford parts bin for the engine, assuming Jag negotiates
a future supply contract once its imminent sell-off, most likely to Tata Motors,
is completed. Options
include boosting the power of the 130bhp 2.0-litre Mondeo engine or the 152bhp
2.2-litre X-type diesel, although the latter is a PSA co-developed unit, which
may complicate the chance of securing long-term supplies. Despite
lacking a four-cylinder diesel, the XF is expected to match the best sales of
the outgoing S-type, between 10,000 and 12,000 units a year, according to managing
director Geoff Cousins. "Only
about 30% of our sales are [to] fleets," he said. "If we had a small
capacity diesel we could do more business with fleets." Last
year Jag allowed overall UK sales to drop 24% to 17,800 units. "We reduced
our targets and hit our budget in the UK," said Cousins. The
bulk of UK XF sales will be diesels, taking around 70%. The three-litre V6 petrol
will contribute about 10%. | 