Jaguar Will Probably Kill off the F-Type R

Ever since we first drove the Jaguar F-Type R, we’ve been big fans of its gorgeous styling and 550-hp supercharged V-8. It’s far from the most practical car you could spend $100,000 on, but the Jag’s raucous exhaust note makes that easy to forgive. Unfortunately, it looks like the F-Type R may be living on borrowed time. In fact, Jaguar may soon get rid of R models altogether.

Speaking to AutoExpress, Wayne Burgess, Jaguar SVO’s head of design, said the British automaker will likely drop all R models from its lineup. But he had a good reason: Jaguar wants to focus on its even-more-powerful SVR models.

“To be completely honest Jaguar is a fairly small brand and probably, in reality, there is not enough room in each model line to have an R and an SVR,” said Burgess. “We have found F-Type R and F-Type SVR kind of compete against each other. The truth of the matter is that F-Type R is a great car and, in some respects, SVR has a challenging time because the R is such a good car in the first place.”

Considering Jaguar sold fewer than 40,000 vehicles in the U.S. last year, he does have a point. The 575-hp F-Type SVR is also a far superior sports car, even if it only makes slightly more power.

“We would rather have a genuine SVR halo in the line-up and then jump an R model—that is [the] better way of doing things,” Burgess continued. “In a model line that doesn’t have an R, it can allow SVR to really shine.”

As he then pointed out, the new F-Pace SVR is the perfect example of this new strategy. With 550 hp on tap, we probably won’t miss the F-Pace R that never was.

“You can see the dilemma we have and why F-Pace has gone the way it has. From a design and product point of view, it is great to have an SVR because you have that extra headroom and level of differentiation. Sidestepping an R model also sidesteps potential pricing issues,” said Burgess.

Source: AutoExpress

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