Jaguar Land Rover’s executive director for corporate and strategy insists that even the predicted rise in autonomous technology won’t kill off the traditional driver’s car.
Speaking to Autocar, Hanno Kirner promised that the automaker would continue to build vehicles designed to appeal to enthusiastic drivers.
“Whether it is SVO [Special Vehicle Operations] recreating classics to modern standards or creating track-day specials, I think it will grow as autonomous driving becomes a regular part of lives,” Kirner told the British publication.
“I don’t for one second think we’ll see a generation appear with no interest in cars. Driving enthusiasts will still exist and we’ll want to engineer cars for them,” he added.
Kirner revealed that current demand for products to satisfy keen drivers was outstripping supply.
“Today, we have more demand than we can satisfy for such cars and I don’t expect that to change. Yes, there is a generation that is more interested in their phones than anything else today, but they will grow older and want to drive one day.”
Separately, a recent report out of the United Kingdom suggested that XK badge could return, with Jaguar apparently working on a fresh four-seater flagship sports car that could inherit the moniker.
“We love sports cars, and I use the plural quite deliberately. Whether that is delivered by a body variant or something else remains to be seen, but for now let’s just say that the body type is very important for us,” Kirner told Autocar.
