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Under Ford ownership, Jaguar did the same thing with the X-Type, and in my opinion, started the decline of the brand. The X-Type was [apparently] designed to a
by steffan 10y ago
Under Ford ownership, Jaguar did the same thing with the X-Type, and in my opinion, started the decline of the brand. The X-Type was [apparently] designed to allow them to cater to a mid-market customer, but they produced an objectively inferior car with a little bit of Jaguar look, but the fit and finish of a slightly-nicer Ford.
I drove one after having owned other Jaguars and the cheap switchgear, loud engine, excessive road noise, and poor performance put it in sharp contrast to the rest of their line.
They could have produced a car equivalent to their full-size sedans, but they couldn't have done it for that price point.
Undoubtedly part of the appeal for the corporate parent was the sharing of (IIRC) the Ford Mondeo platform, saving them the development costs of an entirely new vehicle.
The problem with that approach is that people who like a brand for the brand's sake don't want the 'Cheap' version, and people who can afford the expensive version as a status symbol don't want their prestige reduced by sharing the same marque as someone with the less-expensive version.
It's human psychology, and part of the reasoning behind 'Lexus' being a separate brand vs. just an expensive Toyota.
- gaius 10y agoAlso Rolex having the Tudor brand rather than a cheaper Rolex-branded watch.
- seanp2k2 10y agoMercedes also has the CLS and CLA now. LandRover did a model, the FreeLander (LR2 in NA), which was a Ford Escape with a nicer interior and different body panels. The LR2 SUV was built on a mid-size car platform, as many "compact SUVs" today are. They're very much built to American tastes of "some kind of truck thing, definitely not a minivan" while having about the same interior space as a decent sedan / hatch. Because of these tastes, we also don't get many of the hot hatches from Europe, because apparently no one except a few enthusiasts here want a small-ish vehicle with good power, great handling, good fuel economy, and enough room for a mountain bike or two in the boot. Americans want a hatchback with a lift kit, like the GLA45 AMG (since we don't get the lower, better-handling, lighter A45 AMG here) with just as little space, more weight, and much more body roll all for aesthetic reasons. It still has basically no true off-road capability.