Jaguar to build a 'Smart' city car by 2020

Emissions regulations and broader customer appeal to create a Jaguar 'Cygnet'

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Jaguar fanatics have been craving the return of a two-seater, but this is probably not what they had in mind.

The chief engineer for the British brand says a tiny two-seater city runabout – similar to the Smart ForTwo or Aston Martin Cygnet (itself a remake of the Toyota iQ) – will be inevitable as Jaguar strives to reach tougher emissions regulations and broaden its customer appeal.

Bob Joyce, the Group Engineering Director for Jaguar and Land Rover, has experience in getting premium small cars to market. In his former role with the BMW Group he was instrumental in bringing the modern Mini to life.

"Could I see Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover doing B sector [city] cars this year? No, but in the world we're going to move into in eight years time, with the pressures on fuel economy, absolutely I can see it," Joyce told the Carsales Network.

"Could I draw you one now? No, but I have a vision of it. Can I tell you what the technology is: it wouldn't be conventional. It wouldn't be what the other B sector cars would do."

Joyce said he has learned to "never say never in this game".

"If you look at the pressure on fuel economy and the [emissions] targets, we've got to go to a 95g/km car in Europe," he said. "Four years ago our average portfolio was 240g/km.

"There are hardly any cars at 95g/km in the world as we speak today. And yet our portfolio has got to be there in eight years time. We've improved our fleet average fuel economy by 25 per cent in the past four years, we've got to do another 40 per cent-plus going forward. That means we have to do more than just more efficient engines."
He said Jaguar was ideally placed to make a business case out of building small cars because economy vehicles cost almost as much to design, develop and build as larger cars but are less profitable.

"There are very few premium brands in the world but the world is expanding massively," Joyce said. "The markets and new consumers want different things. The premium sector [is] now covering a broader range of products than ever before and I don't think that will change.

"I can see somebody in the year 2018 or 2020 having a two-seater city car with a Range Rover or a Jaguar badge on it. I don't think there are any rules [that say this is not possible]."

He gave the upcoming Range Rover Evoque hatchback (pictured) as an example of stretching the brand into a new market.

Joyce warned, however, that a Jaguar or Range Rover city runabout would still need the "DNA" of each brand.

He said Mini provides successful and less successful examples of stretching a brand into new territory.

"I took that project from the state when it was potentially never going to happen, to the state where it got delivered," he said. "I remember discussions on Mini never being sold in America because it was too short a car and not selling in Europe because it was a [Volkswagen] Lupo competitor, and that's just not what the Mini is.

"[That] Mini as a core car is successful is because it stood true to the DNA of that [original] car, the character, the driving, the cheekiness. The Beetle [wasn't as successful as the Mini] because people knew it was a sort of Golf clone.

"You've got to be careful what you do with the cars. Mini is pure in many ways [but] I think some of the variants show you can probably squeeze it and push it too far."

When asked if Jaguar would partner with a small-car specialist (as Aston Martin did with the Toyota iQ-based Cygnet), or build its own vehicle, Joyce said: "I think we'd like to be more innovative and original than just cloning somebody else's car. I think Aston will have some success [with the Cygnet] … but it needs to be more Aston than that car."

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