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Jaguar says F-Type sales off to flying start

As we noted in our recent first drive, Jaguar's luscious new F-Type roadster is a bit of a tweener in both size and cost, lining up in between rival Porsche's Boxster and 911. That one-for-two-segment strategy is showing early signs of paying off, with Automotive News reporting that half of the car's 2014 production allotment is already sold. We're not talking huge numbers - sports cars in this segment only "have a global annual volume of about 75,000 units and a market share of 0.1 percent," notes Jaguar brand director Adrian Hallmark. Yet the company figures the F-Type will work out to about 15 to 20 percent of its total volume of around 60,000 units.
From where we sit, this is all very encouraging news, but it's way too early to call the F-Type a smash hit. The sports car segment is known for its fickleness and its front-loaded sales curve, so the real measure of success will be how it fares over the next few years after early adopters get their cars. Jaguar will have to work to keep the F-Type fresh with new variants, and we hear it's prepared to do just that. The British luxury marque hasn't confirmed a hardtop coupe variant yet, but patent images and spy shots suggest one is on the way shortly, and it ought to extend the model's appeal greatly. A four-cylinder option and a manual transmission have also been rumored, and presumably Jaguar will eventually launch higher-performance R and R-S variants as it has done with various model lines, including its other sporty two door, the XK grand tourer.

Jaguar design chief Ian Callum rules out station wagons

If you liked the idea of a Jaguar wagon and were secretly hoping that the British automaker might bring one over, we have some unfortunate news for you. Not only will the company not bring any wagons to the North American market, but according to design chief Ian Callum, it won't be making any at all. "The [wagon] market is massively shrinking. I'm very sad about it but it's a very difficult market to justify," Callum told Automotive News Europe. German automakers Audi, BMW, and Mercedes can make wagons work because their home market is the largest for wagons in the world and any wagons they sell elsewhere are just chocolate icing on the Black Forest cake. For its part, Jaguar has produced two wagon models in the X-Type and the previous XF Sportbrake. That's a shame in Jaguar's case, because the XFR-S Sportbrake was a heck of a ride that left us wondering why anyone would want something taller. Those of like mind, we suppose, will just have to content themselves instead with German wagons like the Audi A6 Allroad, BMW 3 Series, Mercedes E-Class, and Volkswagen Golf SportWagen – and hope that Volvo doesn't get squeezed out of the wagon market as well. Related Video:

Jaguar E-Pace has an F-Type-inspired interior

Jaguar continues to test its new small crossover, tentatively dubbed E-Pace, and that means our spy photographers continue to capture it in the wild. This time, we got some photos of the interior. From what we can see, it follows in the footsteps of the the F-Type sports car, rather than Jaguar's sedans and larger F-Pace crossover. From the air vents down, the center stack gently slopes toward the shifter. It also has a large grab handle on the passenger side like that in the F-Type. This also makes the center stack feel more driver-centric. The shifter is also F-Type-inspired. While the Jaguar sedans and the F-Pace use a motorized dial that rises from the center console for shifting, the F-Type uses a conventional lever, as does this E-Pace. These interior design choices seem to indicate that Jaguar will market this E-Pace as being a sportier Jaguar than its existing lineup. Our spy photographer also caught this E-Pace prototype with the hatch up. This clearly shows that the E-Pace will have a radically raked rear window. Matched with the voluptuous rear fenders, the E-Pace should have a very aggressive look. As a side note, the open hatch also reveals that there are at least one or two members of the Jaguar team that like Budweiser. We still expect a reasonably long wait until the E-Pace makes its full debut, likely sometime next year at the earliest. We're also expecting the crossover to have a front-wheel-drive-based all-wheel-drive system like the Range Rover Evoque, and it may even use the Evoque platform. While not a bad platform or drive system, most any car enthusiast or journalist would agree that a rear-wheel drive platform would be more naturally sporty and in keeping with this car's interior and possible marketing. Related Video: