Jaguar has withdrawn its entry-level XE midsize sedan from the U.S. because of poor sales and a consumer shift to SUVs, the luxury brand said in a statement.
Jaguar sold just 886 XEs in the first half in the key market. The XE was priced from $39,900 in the U.S.
Jaguar will continue to sell the larger XF sedan, which had sales of just 349 in the first six months.
The Jaguar E-Pace compact SUV will now be the brand’s entry model in the U.S., Jaguar said.
The brand’s U.S. lineup will now consist of three SUVs, the XF and the F-Type sports car. The change was made to “specifically meet the U.S. market requirements, which today is made up of 66 percent SUV buyers in the luxury segment,” Joe Eberhardt, head of Jaguar Land Rover North America, said.
The XE will remain on sale in Europe and China, Jaguar said. “Globally, the Jaguar XE continues as a very important first step into the brand,” the automaker said.
Jaguar has just updated the XE for Europe to include mild-hybrid technology on the four-cylinder diesel version. The sedan also gains Jaguar Land Rover’s new Pivi Pro infotainment system.
The British brand recently cut the XE’s starting price in its home market to 29,635 pounds ($38,110) from 34,600 pounds as part of a streamlining of the model lineup.
The XE was unveiled at the 2014 Paris auto show on a new rear-wheel-drive platform but sales have been sluggish. The car is made at Jaguar Land Rover’s factory in Castle Bromwich, England, as well as JLR’s joint venture factory in China, in partnership with Chery.
China is the XE’s biggest market. In the third quarter of this year, more than two-thirds of the car’s 4,944 global sales during the period came from the world’s largest car market, according to JLR data.
Jaguar has also updated and lowered the price of the XF large sedan. In the UK the price dropped to 32,585 pounds from 34,995 pounds, while diesel models gain the same mild-hybrid technology as the XE. The XF also gains the new Pivi Pro infotainment system.
In the U.S., buyers will no longer be able to purchase the XF wagon, while the V-6 gasoline has been dropped, leaving two versions of the four-cylinder turbocharged unit.