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Jaguar XF Sportbrake could be headed for the door after just two years

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The

Jaguar XF Sportbrake

only just got here, hauling its first load of mettwurst and Coca-Cola to a junior varsity soccer tailgate party in 2017. According to a report in

The Detroit Bureau

, the comely wagon could be on the way out later this year thanks to two

massive turnaround campaigns

. The outlet interviewed

Jaguar

USA CEO Joe Eberhardt, who conveyed the message that only the strongest products will live. That means

no more manual transmissions

after this year,

simplified trims

, and easing up on

diesels

. It also means, in TDB’s words, “you’ll no longer see wagons … in the U.S.”

If this ends up true, it would be a shame.

Wagon sales were up 29 percent

in the U.S. last year. We just included the

XF

Sportbrake as one of the potential reasons

Audi teased its Twitter fans

about the return of Avants. And if there’s anyone

who doesn’t like the XF Sportbrake

, we haven’t met them. Our review said the slinky wagon “Puts SUV appeal on ice.”

Jalopnik

called it “

The best-kept sleeper wagon

secret you can buy.”

Road & Track

labeled it “

A high five to America

.”

High fives and good secrets don’t pay the rent, though. The push for global sustainability after

last year’s shocking Q4 loss

at Jaguar

Land Rover

has compelled two turnaround campaigns called “Charge” and “Accelerate.” One focuses on immediate cost matters, the other takes the long strategic view. Both need to incorporate the fact that Jaguar’s

crossovers

, the F-Pace and E-Pace, represent 70 percent of

Jaguar

sales.

On that matter, Eberhardt said, “I don’t want to say the speed of change took us by surprise, but they were too quick for us to react to immediately. It takes time to transform ourselves to the point we can be profitable again.” If consumer tastes seen through the looking glass give the hint they’ll push beyond 70 percent, Eberhardt said, “We have to ask (which products) make sense anymore.”

That subtext of that question is, “Which sedans and

sports cars

make sense anymore?” Jaguar’s cars could elicit as many questions in the press as they do in the corporate offices. Will

the whole brand go electric

? Will there be another F-Type? What about

that reborn XK

? And whatever is going to happen, when will it happen?

Answers are brewing, but even Jaguar might not know yet what they are. Said Eberhardt, “The good news is that we have the product. The question now is how we react on the downside with cars that are not in demand.”

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