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Ken Gratton2 Mar 2012
NEWS

GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Jaguar XF Sportbrake debut

XF Sportbrake is a box-and-bag-carrying Jag

The Jaguar XF Sportbrake set to be unveiled in Geneva next week is a vehicle targeting European markets, where wagons are more lucrative than SUVs.

But Aussie buyers will see the wagon in Jaguar dealerships from the fourth quarter of this year, according to the importer's General Manager, Kevin Goult.

"It's going to be available for Australia," he told motoring.com.au this morning. "At the moment, what we're doing is working on the price and we're working on the compliance to bring it in. Initially [the market for the car is] going to be very heavily biased towards Europe, but we're working on our compliance side of things..."

By bringing the XF Sportbrake to Australia, Jaguar will be expanding the XF range as BMW has done with its 5 Series Touring and likewise Mercedes-Benz with the E-Class Estate. Given the respective sales volumes of Jaguar and the two German brands, however, can the XF Sportbrake be a profitable entry in this market? Goult believes so, but the importer isn't going to bring the wagon here in huge numbers. It will be more of a boutique model, as is the case for the Benz and the BMW.

"The plan actually is that we'll have this car as a retail order-only [model] at this point, because obviously it's quite a small segment in Australia, but if we price this right and spec it right we might be able to provide a niche offering into that sort of segment of the market."

As for pricing, Goult hinted that it might be close to the $80,000 mark with the same 2.2-litre diesel engine as in the entry-level XF sedan, driving through the same eight-speed auto transmission.

"If you look at what we're doing with the [XF] 2.2 — at $78,900 — you look at that sort of price point... we'll be trying to build a spec around there, and have it so that it would be slightly more than that."

The XF Sportbrake features new panels from the B pillars back. According to the press material issued by Jaguar, the wagon will carry up to 1675 litres, fully loaded, but even with the rear seats in place it's good for 550 litres. As with other wagon variants of sedans, the XF Sportbrake provides more headroom in the rear, up by 48mm. Just 5mm longer than the sedan, the wagon has put on 70kg of weight.

Although the vehicle won't even go on sale in its home market until later in the year — during the third quarter — the UK press office for Jaguar has revealed that the XF Sportbrake will be available with a powered tailgate — although whether standard or optional remains a mystery. And the tailgate will come with LEDs to cast a light on the ground when the tailgate is open. In the luggage compartment are remote finger pulls to fold the seats forward and under the floor are three separate storage compartments for smaller items.

Jaguar engineers have incorporated self-levelling rear suspension in the car, allowing the XF Sportbrake to double as a sports tourer and a tow vehicle, if the need should arise.

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Written byKen Gratton
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