Sport-Utility Jaguar Studied

NEW YORK TIMES
Published: Tuesday, January 31, 1995

The Ford Motor Company's Jaguar subsidiary is studying the possibility of building a sport-utility vehicle.

Jaguar, in confirming a report today in Automotive News, a trade publication, that a study is under way, said competitive pressures were forcing the British luxury car maker to look at market segments beyond large luxury cars because other auto makers, like Mercedes-Benz, are expanding into those markets.

So far, a Jaguar sport-utility vehicle is only a proposal. Ford, which bought Jaguar in 1989 for about $2.6 billion, has already approved an investment program of $2.4 billion for Jaguar's redesigned XJ6 sedan and a redesigned coupe and convertible for 1996.

Ford is also expected to approve almost $800 million for a smaller Jaguar sedan to be introduced in 1998 or 1999. Ford has said it will build the sedan, code-named X200, in Britain only if it gets more than $100 million in aid from the British Government. Engineer, a British trade publication, said last week that Ford would close Jaguar's entire British operation if the small sedan was produced in the United States.