This week Jaguar, a once great British brand of car, revealed its much delayed new vehicle in the US. As a former Jaguar fan and owner for me it is too dear, too bland and only available with battery power so I will not be buying one. It bears no resemblance to great Jaguars of the past, and has nothing beautiful or eye catching enough in my view to make it break through with a new distinctive design. This is no modern E type nor even an XJ.
I used to be a Jaguar owner, changing my vehicle for a new one every two years, making myself a good customer of the Jaguar company. When they prematurely ended the S type and moved to the XF they allowed articles to appear saying they did not want the buyers of the old style car as they were launching something more modern for a new audience. Despite this I went along with the change and bought an XF. It was hopeless in the snow and ice that winter and it annoyed me in its handling and control whilst I was underwhelmed by its looks. I traded it in for a Land Rover 4WD which did work in the snow and have never bought a new Jaguar since.
Over the last year Jaguar did its best to kill off many other loyal supporters by getting itself into the absurd position of having no new car to sell anyone. It could have continued its previous ranges and responded to the fact that a majority of car buyers still do not want an all battery car, but it wouldn’t do that. Now it has launched a car eventually that cuts out most past Jaguar owners on two counts. Jaguar was more affordable luxury which this is not, and Jaguar offered petrol and diesel variants which this does not. I guess it was first revealed in the US because there are more billionaires and multi millionaires there who might want one as part of their garage full of cars. Overtaxed UK will not have many desperate to spend so much on this vehicle.
Land Rover has continued with diesel and petrol cars and some more affordable vehicles for longer, but they too are going in the direction of dearer and hybrid if not all battery. A lot of their vehicles now do not offer 4WD which surely was the main proposition you expected of a Land Rover? 4WD is useful on grass and in the rain going to sports and summer events as well as for when we do have icy snaps in winter. It’s not just needed for off roading.
The UK industry has responded to government dictats, ignoring customer preferences. It is sad to see the collapse of a once great brand with much reduced likely future sales, as China takes over the battery car market for the many. A brand’s value rests with the number of loyal customers it can recruit, please and retain. Jaguar has just ensured even more loyalists to the brand can no longer see it as their natural choice.It is dearer to try to recruit new customers than keep the ones you already have.
October 8, 2026
According to one newspaper report the new model is too large for many London parking places.
October 8, 2026
Parking spaces are getting smaller I once with some effort parked my Volvo V70 (five of us in the car) in a crowded French car park but then could not get out of the doors so had to leave again (so small was the marked box). Perhaps I should have got out first and pushed the car into the space and put a brick as a chock under the wheels as a brake?
October 8, 2026
LL,
Maybe cars are getting larger over the years. I can fit a car in my standard size garage with other paraphernalia. Many others now just use garages as more storage space and park the car outside.
If I had a large SUV it would be easier to park outside on the drive unless I stripped out other stuff I also keep in the garage.
October 8, 2026
The standard car park space is 2.4 metres x 4.8 metres and many councils are now threatening to fine car owners who’s cars overstep those sizes when parked on Council car parks.
Many cars are now over 5.00 metres in length.
Go to Costco and you will find car park spaces vastly bigger than this, because they are used to building American sized spaces and insist on using them in their developments.
I am informed by the person who was in charge of the Costco development in Reading, that when they put in the planning application, the council objected to the proposed large car park size places, Costco’s answer was simple.
Our customers need this size space, they are a normal size for our company, we will build elsewhere if you do not allow them, Planning was granted for the site with large (sensible) car park spaces.
Cars have grown in size, but we are still using same minimum size regulations that are decades old.
October 8, 2026
UK parking spaces are the same size they’ve been for decades. 16′ by 8′.
The issue is cars getting ever wider. For example, a 1980s BMW 3 series was 161cm wide. The current model is 183cm wide. That means a quarter of what was the space available to open the door and get in and out has been lost by the car getting wider.
October 8, 2026
I am far too mean to buy new cars as they devalue so rapidly. Electric cars are even worse due to the short battery life. It will get worse as the 3p per mile charge comes in next year and this will doubles rise to 8p of so. If you buy a new EV Jag. for say £130k finance costs (or loss of return) and depreciation alone is likely to cost you about circa £8 a mile over 8 years. Even more if you only keep it for a couple of years. Insurance is more too higher tyre wear too.
You can easily find far better, more flexible, practical, longer range, cheaper to insure and interesting secondhand cars for well under £5,000. Then invest you £130k well to produce say circa 9k PA after tax or if you live in a low tax country £15k PA after tax.
October 8, 2026
Also in the UK you will have to earn about £260k to have enough after tax and NI to buy a £130k Jaguar. Why not safe yourself all these hours of hard work and buy a rather better petrol car for £5k or push the boat out and perhaps get a nice classic car for £20k. No road tax if over 40 years old. Hard to go much over 50mph anyway on the dire potholed and often 20mph limited UK roads.
October 8, 2026
LL
Yes. And then watch them say that it is unfair to just price EV’s and that everyone should then pay. And once they can monetise the road network they will sell it off.
October 8, 2026
Kemi’s IHT promise is ill thought out and another botch like the last IHT botch – she did not even say when she would introduce it in the unlikely she got a majority in three years time – so I assume it would be in 2034. Why would anyone with a few £million come back to or move to the UK and give 40% of it to the government on death with that IHT regime? Why would anyone trust the Conservatives to deliver this time anyway?
Kemi’s plan would encourage people to put all their funds into their main residence as no CGT and no IHT if you give to children and grandchildren children. Circa an 11% chance at best of a Kemi full majority at the next GE.
Plus Kemi says if there is a hung parliament she would not do a deal with Reform and would prefer another election – is she bonkers? Cannot see that going well for the Conservative or Kemi.
Kemi should have promised full abolition within a month of becoming PM not this pathetic botch. She should have explained how much the tax base would grow with lower tax policies and how much inward investment it would encourage. But trust is her main problem.
Reply You are so endlessly negative and often wrong. This tax cut would be part of the first budget. These tax cuts are all costed.
October 8, 2026
It is a silly and fiscally distorting fudge but better than nothing and did she actually promise it in the first budget?
Kemi needed to promise complete abolition of IHT with in a month of taking office and to explain why this would bring the wealth and investment back to the UK and stop people leaving. This increasing the tax base.
Why would anyone worth say £20 million + come to the uk or stay in the uk just to give 40% to the government to waste on death? You cannot even avoid it with farm land, farms or trading companies now? This thanks to Reeves’s doom loop vandalism.
Reply The revenue loss from complete abolition is not easy to cover in year 1 before growth lifts. She said she would like to afford complete abolition. Whilst she did not say in the speech this cut would be in first budget that is allowed for in the costings and plan.
October 8, 2026
Silly not to say “ first budget “ in her speech. An increase in thresholds would have been far better and less fiscally distorting I assume it will mean people keeping their expensive main homes right until the second death to save IHT. Or even buying larger main homes.
October 8, 2026
Reply – Reply
And that is the problem John, IHT will be modified when we (the Government) can afford it, aware that is a sensible statement, but it is not a promise, it is just a maybe to voters who have had many such failed pledges over the years, Remember George Osbourne’s promise of IHT at £1,000,000 way back in 2008, for a single person it is £325,000 some 18 years later.
The simple fact of life is that IHT needs to be scrapped if you want to encourage people to invest, build businesses, and have some savings, to encourage self sufficiency, aspiration, and a sensible work ethic.
October 8, 2026
I think with these destructive taxes like IHT, and also Stamp Duty on land, complete abolition should be attempted, otherwise a future government will start to tweak rates and boundaries, such as happened with the extension of IHT to farmers and family businesses. Stop penalising the rich and the rich will return. We are still (just) quite a nice country in which to live.
October 8, 2026
“Tax cuts are all costed”. Yes, they all say that don’t they.
October 8, 2026
I agree on the primary residence IHT. Even in Wokingham, the current £1million allowance for a couple’s primary residence is well above the current average house price of £526k. The only people this change will benefit are the very asset rich.
96% of estates pay zero IHT today. None of them will see any benefit from this change. If you really want to help people, deal with the cliff edges and high marginal rates (up to 71% under both the Conservatives and Labour) that exist in the direct taxation system.
Reply Half of all the spending cuts go to tax reductions, so there are more to come. They have started to tackle the 100,000 a year cliff edge
October 8, 2026
Good morning.
I think you may not be reading the room, JR when it comes to the future of the car market. It seems we in the West, like much else, are to be priced out of the market. Perhaps Jaguar see the direction of travel far better than we do, smaller but higher priced sales.
October 8, 2026
Perhaps they have located loads of rich fools to target? Ones who perhaps wish to visually demonstrate both their wealth and stupidity when they pop to Waitrose or on the school run?
October 8, 2026
the reviews of the new model on American car sites are some of the funniest things I have ever seen.
October 8, 2026
The car weighs about 2700 KG about 1/3 of that will be the battery weight. The battery might only last 8years with a decent range. Fast charging also tends to reduces the battery life. Plus to carry this extra weight it will need heavier tyres, wheels, chassis, structure, steering, brakes, crumple zones, roof… also it is more dangerous to be hit by something that is heavy.
A perfectly decent small petrol five seater car can weight well under 900kg many are under 500kg.
October 8, 2026
Times change. Like it or not, the future is BEV. The new electric Jaguar is too long for British car parking spaces, it’s designed for the vast roads that criss-cross America. As such it has been designed as an export model. At least it’s not pink
JLR is no longer a British brand, it’s been owned by the Indian TATA firm for years. The British Ineos company, owned by the entrepreneur Jim Ratcliffe, produces a range of rugged, 4×4 off road SUVs. It is powered by a BMW 3l turbocharged ICE engine. Their “Grenadier” model still has a retro analogue dashboard. Despite the British branding, Ratcliffe produces it at his facility in Hambach, France. What a shame.
Sadly, Ineos will not be introducing an electric version
October 8, 2026
Not sadly but sensibly the battery needed for a decent range for a heavy 4×4 are too heavy, too expensive and depreciate too rapidly. Plus a large fire risk too.
October 8, 2026
Your assertion that the new Jaguar is for the vast roads of America is funny as it would need charging about 10 times on a coast to coast run. The infrastructure isn’t there unlike petrol/diesel which can be filled in 5 minutes and is readily available.
October 8, 2026
The future could well be BEVs but we need batteries that store more energy, are lighter, smaller, cheaper, longer lasting, do more charge/discharge cycles before sig. decay, are quicker to charge and need less energy to mine and manufacture. Also less likely to catch fire and easier to extinguish.
Note also that EVs do not really save any CO2 when properly accounted for over their full lives. For larger trucks, aircraft and ships they make little sense as so much of the cost is the battery and the batteries use up so much load weight and load space. plus they waste drivers time to recharge and use more tyres.
Batteries now are only circa 5 times better than 100 years ago. Petrol, diesel, gas, fuel cells and manufactured fuels can often be rather better suited for many applications.
RANGE Anxiety is rather worse on aircraft.
October 8, 2026
Perhaps Jim Ratcliffe builds his ICE powered SUV’s in France because in the UK he may shortly be forced to close down the production as a result of the vehicles’ scope 3 emissions?
October 8, 2026
I am only a Jaguar fan in so far at the S-Type and E-Type looked like lovely cars so have no skin in this game but the new model looks like something that has been designed in Roblox and and would not make me yearn for one.
October 8, 2026
As a Jaguar owner myself, I concur entirely. As and when my XF Sportbrake diesel – successor to X Type and S Type – gives up the ghost (150K miles and counting, still going strong) I expect I will switch to Toyota or Volvo if that is the only way I can get a petrol engine. Brand loyalty is no more. Ironically, despite this XF not passing the emissions tests for basket case Birmingham and Khan’s London, my independent mechanic still rates its engine highly and suggests keeping it going as long as possible. Politicians, eh?
October 8, 2026
The Jag, was a British icon for decades. From the swingin’ sixties E-type to the F-pace. They were always expensive, but not totally out of reach.
The insanity of ‘net zero’ will destroy Jaguar.
The ludicrous advert showing a bunch of semi-human, non-binary, multicultural stooges wallowing around in gaudy pink and orange robes, but no car. Was so stupid it beggars belief.
Now Jaguar have come out with this hideous oversized box on wheels. Priced for millionaires. They have signed their own death warrant. I want to be sad about that, but can’t be. Dopes in boardrooms came up with the monstrosity.
There are still many Jaguars on the road including classics. They are a pleasure to behold, even If I’ve never personally owned one.
October 8, 2026
Sorry to dis an iconic UK brand, but the new model looks like a battery box – because that’s what it is!
It’s not British any more, owned by Tata.
October 8, 2026
Agree with your posting John, Jaguar lost the plot years ago, then went to a silly WOKE stance on design.
Agree the XF looks like almost any other car, it also gives a harsh ride compared to the older more comfortable models.
Our family tend to purchase nearly new models, and then keep the for years to avoid huge depreciation.
My last vehicle was 21 years old when traded in for a 4 month old main dealer 4 x4 2.0 litre diesel Mercedes, with a 25 % saving on new.
My wife drives a 20 year old 2.0 litre diesel Toyota Corolla, still going strong, and looking good for another 5 years, a pre registered dealer vehicle one year old with just 5 miles on the clock still in its protective wrapping at a 30% discount.
Will wait and see how the market evolves, not many charging points about during our recent 2,500 mile trip to France, none at any of our overnight stops or final destination.
October 8, 2026
JLR management is not entirely irrational as they are expanding into the US pick up truck market. JLR UK employees must be sickened.
October 8, 2026
Agreed, in fact it resembles the very models of different manufacturers that it should be better than. Very ordinary.
Great British car brands like Jaguar have been destroyed, like much of the UK industrial base, by wanton disregard for the future.
There won’t be any need for the great unwashed to buy or use cars, so say the diktats of net-0, they will walk or cycle if lucky. Anyway, we’ll all be constrained within our 15 minute villages, so it’s only the political elite that will be able to drive a car. Destroying our mobility falls in line with the Reset doctrines; ‘Thou shallt not have’
The government has warned us of shortages to come, like supermarket shelves and energy – cars are spearheading that dogma of ‘nothing affordable or available’. Our future has been plotted out that way.
October 8, 2026
This gives credence to the old engineers’ adage: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”! What a disaster.
October 8, 2026
The past few governments we’ve had, both Conservative and Labour at both national and local level, have disapproved of cars and car owners and have hobbled the manufacturers accordingly. They will not be happy until we’re all driving battery-powered Trabants with a maximum speed of 10mph.
October 8, 2026
Go woke = Go broke
They forgot who their paying customer was ….they believe its government, chasing subsidy & relief
October 8, 2026
I see the BBC is confirmed as paying white people less than any other demographic, across all pay bands.
This is illegal.
Why is the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) not prosecuting?
October 8, 2026
SECRETARY RUBIO: “Nationalism” became a dirty word. So we tore down our monuments, we condemned our own history, and in too many places we taught our children to be ashamed of the countries they would inherit. In the process we opened our borders, and outsourced our industry, and allowed our militaries to wither and to decay.
Why are no UK politicians saying this?
October 8, 2026
“It is dearer to try to recruit new customers than keep the ones you already have.”
This true but only if the customers still exist. Perhaps Jaguar see their market as the USA as the UK and Europe is pursuing Net Zero which sees the elimination of personal transport (except for the Elites using Zil Lanes) and the use instead of public transport and active travel within 15 minute cities. And that their vehicles will be too expensive for our socialist paradise. Socialism depends upon making and keeping people poor and the Left have invented the climate crisis hoax to sabotage our energy and thus destroy our industry, economy and national security.
October 8, 2026
I, too, am an ex-Jaguar owner, and their new model will never tempt me back. It is too bland, too expensive, and a disgrace to the brand’s previous values. They should have designed and produced a range of three SUVs; that’s where the market is now and will be in the future. Large saloon cars have a shrinking market, and BEV ones an even smaller one. It will lead to the closure of Jaguar and the loss of a once great UK brand.
As for Kemi Badenoch, I think her approach to IHT is a good start. She says it will eventually be gone, and that is good news.
October 8, 2026
The factory sites in the UK are often more valuable for housing. The van factory in Luton was closed by Stellantis and sold. Tata will be very aware that the energy costs for car manufacturers are too high in the UK. What better way to end Jaguar that to let the woke fools produce a very expensive car that looks like only Lady Penelope would buy one.