The Jaguar XF and XJ will both begin offering all-wheel drive as an option to shoppers within the next three years, the company’s global brand director Adrian Hallmark told us at the Frankfurt auto show. The only other all-wheel-drive Jaguar in history was the pariah known as the X-Type, a pseudo Jag based on the front-wheel-drive Ford Mondeo. But the XF and XJ are rear-wheel drive now, and adding all-wheel drive to a vehicle that wasn’t originally designed for it can be brutally expensive. “You might even say it’s cost prohibitive,” Hallmark acknowledged, “but it has to be done.” Jaguar has no choice but to add an all-wheel-drive option, he tells us, if it is going to use its current momentum to establish itself as a full-fledged competitor to German luxury brands. At present, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes offer all-wheel drive on all of their sedans in the U.S.
In addition to California, Jaguar’s strongest market has historically been along the Atlantic Coast, from Washington, D.C., up to New York and Boston. In these regions, all-wheel drive has become a necessity to sell luxury cars—winter tires, traction control, and careful throttle application just don’t cut it for shoppers in these places. We spoke with a Mercedes-Benz dealer in the New York metro area who told us it’s virtually impossible to get an S-class with rear-wheel drive there; it either would have to be a special order or swapped with a distant dealership. In the rare cases when his dealership does get such a request, it comes from customers who spend their winters in sunny Florida.
Hallmark and other execs know that Jaguar needs to sell more cars—many more. The XJ has sold well in its segment against three very impressive vehicles—the Audi A8, the Mercedes-Benz S-class, and the BMW 7-series—but could do better. Deliveries of the XF, however, have dropped off since the car launched in early 2008. All-wheel drive should go a long way toward helping cut the ratio of BMW 5-series to XFs sold from the current 10:1.
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