Baby Jag heralds a new era

THE success of the Jaguar S-type has given the Coventry-based marque increased impetus for its new 'baby Jag', codenamed the X400. Ford is already cutting production of the Escort at its Halewood plant, which will build the X400, to train 3,000 assembly line workers in the prestige manufacturer's different working processes.

When the BMW 3-series rival hits the roads in two years' time, it will see Jaguar quadruple its sales volumes compared to pre-S-type days, an increase which requires a new way of doing business, particularly for dealers. They have to prepare to handle significantly higher volumes of both new and used cars to maintain Jaguar's rising brand cache, and protect its all-important wholelife costs, said Christine Downton, Jaguar's manager of corporate operations.

'Our dealers very much understand the importance of residual values in this sector of the market. There has always been a strong understanding of wholelife costs, and we have sold S-type on its running costs,' she said.