New mid-sized Jaguar may purr on Jakarta's streets
New mid-sized Jaguar may purr on Jakarta's streets
By Alastair Doak
JAGUAR's new midsize car, the X200, is expected to open up the
Indonesian market for the British-based luxury carmaker.
X200, a BMW 5-Series and Mercedes E-Class competitor, will be
designed for completely knocked down (CKD) export, which will
allow Jaguar to establish assembly operations in Indonesia where
imports of completely built cars are restricted.
At present, only a limited number of Jaguar's sedans are sold,
mostly the range-topping Daimler-badged long wheelbase. Most of
these are bought by foreign diplomats in Jakarta.
Last year, the company sold about 50 cars in Indonesia.
X200 is expected to be revealed at the Paris or the Birmingham
motor shows in October next year before going on sale late in
1998 or early 1999.
CKD exports would follow about six to 12 months after the
initial European on-sale date because it would take that long for
the factory to cope with the additional production complexity.
A smaller 3-Series BMW competitor, code named X400, would also
be earmarked for CKD export if this car gets the go ahead from
the Jaguar board.
A decision to build X400 from early next century is expected
to be taken by late this year. At present, the company is
undertaking a 90 day study for the project.
Issues to be resolved include if there is a big enough market
for the car, where it would be made and what platform it would be
built off.
Deciding on a platform will determine whether it is front or
rear-wheel drive. The Ford-owned company has never made a front-
drive car.
The X400 will drive its rear wheels if the company can
engineer a shorter version of the platform to be used as the
basis for the upcoming midsize X200 sedan.
The X200, which will get V6 and V8 power, including the 4.0-
liter V8 engine, will compete with the BMW 5-Series and Benz E-
Class.
It costs between US$600 million and $700 million to develop
but that does not include power train and an upgraded paint
plant.
The X200 is built on a Ford global platform, dubbed DEW98, and
is the only available rear-drive platform for the X400 project.
If it cannot be modified, then a front-drive platform, the
only type available from Ford in this size, will be used.
The platform from the next-generation Mondeo is the most
obvious candidate.
Jaguar may not have produced a front-drive car before but the
chairman of Jaguar, Mr. Scheele, said it would not be a problem
for the brand if it did.
He said a front-drive car would not harm the company's "core
marque values" as long as it had similar ride and handling
characteristics of other Jaguars.
Just where X400 could be built is a "thorny issue", Scheele
said.
Company insiders have said that both the United States and
Germany were sited as possible countries where it could be built.
A spokesman for Jaguar, Colin Cook, admitted recently that
Jaguar already had capacity constraints at its British plants in
Browns Lane, Coventry and Castle Bromwich in central England, and
that switching to a foreign plant may be necessary.
Scheele said company research had shown that only Japanese
customers insisted a Jaguar must be built in the UK.
Other customers were more concerned about quality than
manufacturing location.
If the X400 is approved, it would take about four years to
develop the car.
When the X200 arrives, the Castle Bromwich plant will be
capable of making 120,000 cars to 130,000 cars.
The X200 is expected to more than double volume to 100,000
cars a year, leaving little space for the X400.
If this proves to be uneconomic at Jaguar's existing plants, a
modified Ford facility is expected to be the next choice. This
plant is expected to be outside Britain.
Scheele also said the company had no plans to make a BMW Z3 or
Benz SLK competitor and plans for a Jaguar off-roader had been
canned.
The X200 will only be sold as a sedan.