Jaguar Has Officially Given Up on Wagons, As It Should

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Posted on 25 April 2016 by Jeff Perez

 

                               

                                             

                                       

“Why don’t car companies build more wagons?! Everybody loves wagons!” The enthusiast community loves to shout it out from the mountain tops. And to be completely honest, I do love wagons, in a weird, obscure sort of way.

But recently Jaguar Design Chief Ian Callum said that the company was all but done building wagons, for good reason. Wagons don’t have a place. The market is a shell of its former self. This is what Callum told Automotive News Europe:

“The [wagon] market is massively shrinking. I’m very sad about it but it’s a very difficult market to justify.”

Sad indeed. But that market isn’t shrinking for at least one brand: Subaru. One of the only successful wagons in the American market is the Outback—and it walks a fine line between wagon and SUV. Subaru managed to sell 14,122 of them last month in the U.S., according to GoodCarBadCar.net.

Following in line is the Golf SportWagen, though, we don’t have exact figures on that since VW bunches it in with the rest of the Golf lineup. For reference, VW sold 12,484 of them by October of last year. I can only assume that number has dropped significantly since then.

For companies like Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz specifically though, the case for wagons can still be justified, considering Germany is the largest market in the world for them. For Jaguar, like the U.S., the UK market is dwindling with the rise of the SUV. More space, better looks, and generally more appeal is what makes the SUV such a hot commodity compared to the lowly wagon.

The good news is, Jaguar will undoubetly go out and sell a bunch of SUVs, meaning it will give the brand some extra spending cash to continue to do fun stuff like this. Wagons, you’re a fun bunch of cars, but it’s time to say your goodbyes.