This is the first glimpse of the Jaguar J-Pace premium SUV, which was cancelled three years ago, when development was well advanced.
The J-Pace would have been a sibling model to the current Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, being built on the same MLA 'flex-fuel’ platform.
The studio model pictured here was built primarily to demonstrate the J-Pace’s interior and interior packaging to company management, according to an insider.
That means little of the final production details of the exterior styling can be seen but the J-Pace’s appearance would have clearly been strongly related to the F-Pace, which remains the only Jaguar car currently in production.
The J-Pace interior, however, is almost complete. By the standard of today’s screen-focused designs, the J-Pace is surprisingly classical, with a strong traditional luxury feel, which extends to the seats and door trims.
This particular version has a dashboard dominated by wood trim, though sportier aluminium and carbon trims would probably have been optional.
The J-Pace would have closely followed today’s Range Rover specification, being just over 5m in length and with the same range of straight-six and V8 petrol and diesel mild-hybrid engines, plus the option of plug-in hybrid powertrains.
Had the J-Pace reached the showrooms, an all-electric version would have probably also been launched next year. A seven-seat version was also rumoured. It would have been built at the JLR plant in Solihull, alongside the big Range Rovers.
Currently, the F-Pace is priced from £45,000, which means the J-Pace would probably have cost from at least £75,000.
It’s not known why JLR decided to cancel the J-Pace and its sibling car, the XJ, though mediocre sales projections could have been one reason.
Officially, then-JLR boss Thierry Bolloré said Jaguar’s future was "elevating itself" from being a premium brand to being a (pure-EV) super-luxury brand.
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No point commenting on the exterior as that wasn't ever what they were going to build. Personally I like the dashboard. Jaguar should have a Big SUV, Medium SUV, large Taycan rival and a sports car.
The exterior is awful. Interior is basically on par with the rest of the line which doesn't bother me, but it looks like the third row seats would be incredibly cramped and lacking headroom. The Ian Callum era of Jaguar design was part of the reason Jaguar struggled against its rivals. The XE looked nearly identical to the first gen Ford era XF. The second generation XF was barely recognizable as a different car than the XE. The F-Pace was quite boring and anonymous, and the awful E-Pace will go down as Jaguar&: worst vehicle ever produced. The only somewhat good looking models were the F-Type and XJ. The F-Type's biggest issue was how absurdly heavy it was and the fact a Porsche 911 cost about the same but was a much sharper tool to drive.
A very dated design indeed, both inside and out. Jaguar made the right decision to scrap these models.
ah! but with an aging poulation maybe jaguar were onto something?? :-)