From British Leyland to Tata Motors and all of Jaguar's corporate owners in between, the one car you could always count on every year from the British automaker since 1968 has been the flagship XJ sedan. No more.
Jaguar Land Rover is ending XJ production July 5 after 51 years. During that time the iconic British "saloon" has been underpinned by just four basic platforms. It's been powered by six-, eight-, and 12-cylinder engines, and for a short time in the 1970s, it was available as a swanky two-door luxury coupe.
In all, roughly 950,000 XJs have been built over the years, according to several Jaguar history sites.
But it may not be the end of the road for the venerable sedan. Jaguar officials say the XJ nameplate will return, possibly as early as next year. But they aren't saying much about their plans.
Speculation in British automotive magazines has the XJ returning as a high-performance battery-electric car with a platform derived from the Jaguar I-Pace electric crossover.
