German Car Zone

Jaguar has just unveiled two of the fastest cars in its history, with the new 2010 XFR saloon and 2010 XKR sports coupe and cabrio making their respective debuts at this week’s Detroit Auto Show, however, according to latest reports the company is working on an even faster, mid-engined supercar. The new flagship will reportedly make its debut in around 12 month’s time and is being designed to take on the likes of the Audi R8 and upcoming Mercedes Benz SLC Gullwing.

This isn’t the new light-weight sports car that has been reported on for several months. The new Jaguar flagship is tipped to be called the XE, a name the company recently filed as a trademark in the UK.

The first hint that such a car could be in the works came from Jaguar’s managing director Mike O’Driscoll, who told AutoExpress that the “XK is the car that began a revolution for us, but it’s not the end of the story. I firmly believe the best car we could build to compliment this is a flagship coupe.”

The new XE is claimed to be an evolution of the R-Coupe concept from 2001. It will borrow components from the current XK but it will be the first mid-engined Jaguar since the stunning XJ220 was launched more than 18 years ago.

Power is expected to come from the recently introduced twin Roots-type supercharged AJ-V8 Gen III 5.0L V8 engine, but should be somewhat about the 510hp (380kW) found in the XKR and XFR.


Source: Report: Jaguar working on mid-engined flagship - [Jaguar XE] - MotorAuthority - Car news, reviews, spy shots

Would be really something if this turns out to be true. All Jaguar needs is the proper budget to do great things.

M

LLN says it's going to be a R8 competitor...

Why? it will make more sense if Jaguar launch a SLK, Z4, Boxter competitor. Just put the F-type concept car to production please.

LLN says the source for those claims is Auto Express and they agree with you:

LLN

If even jag is doing it then why not B.. oups sorry

^

Because the Jag will be in the red numbers for the next zillion years anyway ... So they can even develop / produce / offer a space ship ... it will not matter anyway.

On the other hand B.. oops! has to avoid red numbers by canceling / postponing some projects.



Btw, I'm eager to see whether Jag engineers will develop an original platform for such a car, or buy it from some other company. Developing a mid-engine platform for a low-volume selling car is damn expensive ... But as said ... who cars when the company is already in the red numbers ... time to play & dance till the bitter end. Like on the sinking Titanic.

Regarding the B.. oops! ... Even the R&D costs for engine development are a nightmare right now for the B.. oops! Therefore they are looking fiercely for a partner - for an engine-development joint-venture (like the one with PSA on I4 engines), or a customer who will be willing to buy developed & produced engines from B.. oops!

Top priority: to stay financially healthy.

Oh, get over it. BMW will be the only one WITHOUT a proper supercar. But wait, they will have.. SUV in every class.

What's worse: greed, or vanity?
I guess B.. oops! are greedy, while others are vain.