Reposted from Automobiles de Luxe

By Gunnar Heinrich

In 12 months time, jaguar cars managed to sell a grand total of 24,555 cars to customers in these United States; the company's most important export marketplace.

During that same rotation of the world 'round the sun, principal U.S. market rivals BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Lexus sold 277,461; 241,482; and 312,027 units, respectively.

There is a 216,927 unit difference between Jaguar and closest rival MBUSA. Worse still is to consider that the big three rivals' sales totaled 830,970. If my math is right, that means that if the market were limited to just the four marques (which it isn't), for every 100 luxury cars sold in America, only 3 of those would sport hood leapers.

Coventry, Detroit, and the symbolic ville d'origine of whoever buys Jag must all critically reassess the company's position in the world marketplace. Ford's (erroneous) position was to shift Jaguar mainstream; believing that Jaguar's retro style could bank on yesteryear's passions while being broadly marketable as a viable alternative to the usual suspects.

Consumer indifference proved that line of thinking wrong.

Let's take this moment and put on our cynical Farago hats and talk the ugly truth about one of the world's loveliest marques. The truth is that Jaguar remains a niche nameplate everywhere except in Albion where Bristols, Caterhams, and Morgans cover the truly select (and bizarre) alcoves of the UK's automotive market.

Ah! But "niche" need not be such the dirty word to bottom-line corporate bean counters and crotchety shareholders. MINI serves as our hopeful case-in-point. Year-to-date sales of the smallest and quirkiest car in America are up 1.8% on sales of nearly 40,000 units.

BMW's cute and decidedly retro subsidiary is now profitable despite being resurrected back in 2001. It is the prime story of the runaway success and Jaguar's owners could benefit from taking notes.

Back to the C-XF/ XF débâcle.

Jaguar's foray to producing a more practical, mainstream version of its wild concept was a crime from negligence. The powers-that-be still believe that a mid $50K saloon will sway most buyers (at least Stateside) into thinking that any Jag could be a real alternative to the choices that hail from Germany or Japan.

Didn't they read the damn sales figures?

The trouble is that Jaguar's now engineered a wedge-shaped sedan that plays entirely to their competitors' tune. The focus no longer is on style so much as it is on interior space and technological gadgetry- facets in which Jaguar has never, ever led.

Where Jaguar has triumphed in the past and continues to carry a mystique over its prudish rivals is in sheer style. The cat stands as a sex symbol more than the roundel, tri-star, or L-badge ever will. The company needs to go back to style over substance because goodness knows those J.D. Power awards for build quality aren't paying off in and of themselves.

Were the D or E-Types the most practical cars on the planet? Far from it. But they were iconic and they did put serious sterling into Coventry's coffers.

The C-XF - super modern, super sleek, and probably impractical as it was, would have been the British marque's ticket to getting back towards a bright future.

Will Jaguar even have a future 12 months from now?

Source: Morgan & Co.