CAT NAP

WILL JAGUAR'S SELF-INDUCED PRODUCTION PAUSE PROVE TO BE A BENEFICIAL RECHARGE, OR IS IT THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR THE STORIED BUT TROUBLED BRITISH MARQUE?

- JAMIE KITMAN

On February 12, 1957, fire broke out at Jaguar's Browns Lane plant in Coventry, England, destroying hundreds of finished cars. Mercifully, there were few injuries, and owing to the herculean efforts of the company's workers and distraught managers, the plant was up and running again within a week.

It's not often that a carmaker takes a time-out from making cars, but when disaster strikes, there's not much choice. A scheduled cessation, on the other hand, such as Jaguar's recently announced plan to pause making vehicles entirely, is exceedingly rare. Less common still, Jaguar production won't cease for just weeks or even months but for as much as a year or more. The news might lead one to believe that the parent company's name, JLR (for Jaguar Land Rover), may henceforth stand for Just Land Rover.

Recently, it's tended to feel that way. Jaguar has been ramping down production for years. It dropped its flagship XJ sedan at the end of the 2019 model year. In 2021, Jaguar torched a nine-figure investment when it scuttled an all-electric replacement that was meant to launch around 2022 and share Range Rover's MLA platform. Then, during an investor briefing this past July, JLR CEO Adrian Mardell confirmed that XE and XF sedans, E-Pace and electric I-Pace crossovers, and the F-type sports car have ended production or would do so by year's end. Speaking with disarming frankness, he conceded, "None of those are vehicles on which we made any money."

That leaves only the F-Pace SUV, the brand's bestseller. But production of that model will wind down at year's end too. Jaguar managing director Rawdon Glover recently told Britain's Autocar that Jaguar "will no longer be on sale for new vehicles" in European markets by the end of 2024, with the U.K. to follow early next year. Leftovers from 2024-and, gulp, before-will be the sole fare at U.S. dealers for 2025.