XE

Make
Jaguar
Segment
Sedan

You have to love solidarity, especially in a car company. To not compromise what a car is to its manufacturer (and its patrons) for a bigger paycheck (or at least a shot at one) seems to be a rarity nowadays. But clearly the good people at Jaguar, or at least its Managing Director in Australia Matthew Wiesner, believe in this principle: that if it's not Jaguar, then it isn't going to be. Wiesner definitively squashed rumors circulating that Jaguar was going to come up with a compact car.

It isn't going to happen until at least 2020, according to Wiesner, who isn't oblivious to the direction of the industry. "That trend toward small cars in premium brands is very strong," Wiesner said. "Premium brands are doing well in that space." To be clear, he isn't prematurely chipping away at Jaguar's tombstone. Changes in regards to having compact cars, if appropriate to the brand, he will welcome. "There are some ideas that we'd like to see, and by no means what we see over this current product cycle to the end of this decade means we won't explore those ideas." It seems to be that Wiesner has an idealistic outlook on the brand. Whether or not that will prove detrimental to its sales, or its future, remains to be seen.

You still have to be genuine to what you are," Wiesner said. "If we do it, it has to be a proper Jaguar. It's got to go hard, it's got to have the same technical focus, it's got to drive like a Jaguar and it's got to look like a Jaguar should." For the time being, the XE will remain Jaguar's smallest vehicle.