The company's last attempt was the X-Type, a vehicle that was oft criticized – rightly or wrongly depending on your viewpoint – for its links with the more pedestrian Ford Mondeo. The lackluster sedan was discontinued in 2009, and since then, Jaguar's smallest, most affordable four-door entry has been the $50,000, four-cylinder, turbocharged XF, a BMW 5 Series challenger. Clearly, if Jaguar wanted to make it as a proper threat to the likes of BMW, Audi, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz, it'd need to sink its claws back into $30,000-to-$40,000 sedan game.
It couldn't do that with another X-Type, though. The vehicle it debuted needed to be stylish, not staid. It needed to have a premium rear-drive pedigree, not the smear of a midsize family sedan. And most importantly, it needed to represent the passion and aristocracy that Jaguars of the past had in such abundance. That vehicle is this new XE.
Feast your eyes upon it, loyal readers. Borrowing some of the best styling elements from Jaguar's current litter, the XE's aluminum-intensive body should eagerly go down as one of the most expressive designs in the segment, without being decidedly over the top like the Lexus IS. The front end wears the scowling face pioneered by the XJ and most recently evolved by the XF, while the long hood and side vents mimic the look of the F-Type. The sloping roofline, meanwhile, forcibly reminds us of the XJ's rear haunches, although we're glad to see Jag opted for one color, rather than the flagship sedan's blacked-out C-pillars. The sole element we aren't sure about are the XE's taillights. They're pretty clearly based on the XF, but without the chrome strip that cuts in, they look too large and bulbous. In fact, the rear end as a whole appears strangely out of proportion with the bold dimensions of the rest of the car, but of course, we'll need to see it in person before making final judgments. Functionally, the XE's sleek body boasts a drag coefficient of just 0.26.
"Our mission was to create an exciting and dynamic design clearly reflecting the XE's positioning as a serious driver's car," said Jag's design boss, Ian Callum. "The cab-rearward proportions and tight packaging achieve that and give the XE the appearance of movement even when it's standing still. It bears a strong family resemblance to the F-Type and will stand apart in the crowd."
We only have a limited view of the cabin, consisting of a trio of images, but the overall environment will be immediately familiar to those that have experienced the XF or XJ, as the dominating feature is an arch that winds its way from driver's side to passenger's side along the top of the dash. The prominent center stack is home to Jaguar's new InControl infotainment system, which will also find use on the Discovery Sport of Jag's sister company,Land Rover. Overall, this cabin looks clean and modern, at least in photos.
Jaguar has only released the goods on one of the XE's engines which, by the sounds of it, will be its top-flight offering for the time being. We've tested Jaguar Land Rover's 3.0-liter, supercharged V6 in a number of offerings, driving it in both its 380-hp variant and its 340-pony setup. The XE S will get the latter, and it will be paired up with a new, lighter version of the eight-speed ZF automatic that's so popular in the rest of the JLR fleet. The 340-hp model will be the range-topping entry (at least until Jag decides to shoehorn its blown 5.0-liter V8 under the hood, for the inevitable R and RS variants), and can hit 60 miles per hour in 4.9 seconds before reaching a limited top speed of 155 miles per hour. That sprint to 60 is 0.2 seconds faster than a BMW 335i and it ties the Audi S4. The rest of the engines available on the XE will be part of a new "Ingenium" family, which will be built in the UK using a modular design. Power will be sent to the rear wheels, although Jaguar says the XE's modular architecture is "accepting" of all-wheel-drive systems.
Regardless of which engines the XE arrives with, the car itself will be riding on a largely aluminum chassis with a double-wishbone front suspension. According to Jag, its new sedan will be its first car to arrive with electric power-assisted steering, which is somewhat troubling considering a big weakness of past Jags was steering feedback.
Now for the bad news: While the XE officially launches next year as a 2016 model in the UK, customers in the US won't be able to get their hands on it until 2016, wearing a 2017 model year designation. Regardless of which side of the pond you're on, you'll still be waiting a bit for this kitty to arrive.
That also means that we should be learning a lot more about the XE in the coming months, including (hopefully) pricing, more precise availability and even more details on the powertrain varieties, suspension setup and optional extras. Of course, we'll be sure to recount all the exciting details here, so keep an eye on this space.
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