Jaguar considering small car

If you thought Jaguar would never consider producing a small front-wheel drive hatchback to rival the wildly successful Mercedes-Benz A-Class, think again.

Speaking during a round table interview at the New York motor show, Jaguar design director Ian Callum revealed his love of small cars and said the leaping cat brand is investigating the idea of a front-drive small car.

"There's always space to go smaller — the world is changing very quickly," he said.

"I think there's a huge opportunity in the small car market, but it's a very difficult business -- hugely competitive and hugely price conscious."

Callum cautioned that for the time being Jaguar was "too small to think about taking on that sense of volume and competitive pricing", but he conceded that there is drive within the company to explore the small-car market.

"My personal belief, and I must emphasise that, is that there is space to go smaller for Jaguar. I'm a great lover of small cars, I even own a Mini, a proper Mini that is," he laughed.

But the tone became serious as the influential designer, whose past creations include the likes of the Aston Martin DB9, said if Jaguar did dive into the small-car segment, it would necessitate the switch to front-wheel drive, like Mercedes-Benz with its A-Class.

"I am of the opinion that if you go any smaller than XE you have to go front-wheel drive. I think the world will accept that. Even BMW is accepting it.

"But that's fine — a front-wheel drive car — as the technology now compensates for its misgivings," he said, referring to older front-drive cars that weren't pleasant to drive.

Switching to FWD would require a new chassis architecture, admitted Callum, meaning such a vehicle is still several years away.

And although Jaguar's design boss wouldn't confirm any concrete plans for a small car, he conceded: "…clearly we think about it, we investigate it, but it's a very difficult business.

"You have to make a very big brave move to go into that market."

Callum is not the only senior executive within the company who thinks there's scope for a small car, which would most likely be a hatch, with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) global engineering chief Nick Rogers also expressing interest in the idea.

"We're continually looking at all market segments, looking at what's the appropriate vehicle in each segment. It could be, going forward, a sensible thing to do," observed Rogers, who works across both Jaguar and Land Rover projects.

The British car-maker has a number of four-cylinder 'Ingenium' petrol and diesel engines at its disposal, but JLR's most senior engineer suggested a small car may be offered with new technology, perhaps a hybrid powertrain.

"It might be a different technology that you go into those segments with as well," hypothesised Rogers. "So we're not ruling anything out. We've got tremendous ambition – the drive inside the company is just awesome."