Everyone, gather round, grab your local deity, elder god, supreme ethereal power, infinite nothingness if you’re an atheist, or just, like, “who knows,” if you’re an agnostic! The 2016 Jaguar XE will not only come with three pedals, but better yet, the company says it’s “worth the investment.”
Here’s what Jaguar North America CEO Joe Eberhardt told Car and Driver:
Jaguar is already offering the manual on several versions of the F-type, where the customer take rate is at a solid 10-to-20 percent. “It is enough to be worth the investment, and we are happy with our decision,” Eberhardt tells us. And beyond just the numbers, he points out the benefits in image and performance credibility.
Having not only an entry-level luxury sedan with a manual transmission on offer for the three enthusiasts who live together in the Jalopnik underground lair, but also having it make sense on a business level, is actually a victory for all of us.
And it’s definitely interesting that in an era when Ferrari found such low take rates on its own famous gated manuals that it stopped offering them altogether, it’s lovely to see that the acceptance levels of a manual on such a relatively mainstream car is so much higher.
Tonight, pray, sacrifice a goat, smoke some tires, do whatever it is you need to do. The Universe hath shown us favor.
Contact the author at ballaban@jalopnik.com.
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