Jaguar XE Announced at Geneva Motor Show
The Jaguar XE name was announced at Geneva today.
Jaguar today announced that it will be producing an all-new model, called the Jaguar XE, that will compete in the mid-size sports sedan segment. The Jaguar XE will hit the market in mid 2015.
The announcement came at the Geneva Motor Show when Dr. Ralf Speth, Chief Executive Officer, Jaguar Land Rover, stated, “We announced just a few weeks ago that our new Engine Manufacturing Centre would produce a new family of premium, lightweight, low-friction, low emission four-cylinder petrol and diesel units. The first of our Ingenium engine range will be used in our all-new mid-sized Jaguar sports sedan. That car will be called the Jaguar XE, and it will be unveiled in production form later this year.”
The XE joins the XF and XJ in the range, proving that the highly anticipated name was likely one that took marketers weeks to come up with. The Jaguar XE has its roots in the C-X17 concept from last year, which showed off Jag’s new advanced aluminum architecture; the XE is the first production model to use this architecture. Aluminum carries numerous benefits for drivers: the lightness makes the vehicle much more efficient, and it refines handling and performance.
Jaguar was annoyingly vague on engine specs, using phrases like “inspirational performance” and “latest innovations” instead of the actual performance stats we really wanted to hear. The only numbers that Jaguar let slip were the 186 mph top speed and emissions lower than 100 g of Co2 per km. Expect full details to be released later this year.
I’ll close with a quote from Ian Callum, Director of Design: “The new Jaguar XE is every bit a modern Jaguar; more compact in size but visually striking. Customers will expect a great deal from a mid-size Jaguar – it must be practical but premium. We never forget we are designing a Jaguar and that means it must be as exciting to look at and drive as it is brilliant to run and practical to own. We believe we’ve done just that with the Jaguar XE.”
Timothy Moore takes his leadership inspiration from Michael Scott, his writing inspiration from Mark Twain, and his dancing inspiration from every drunk white guy at a wedding. When Tim is not writing about cars and money, he’s working on his novel or reading someone else’s, geeking out over strategy board games, hiking with his pooch, or channeling his inner Linda Belcher over beers with his friends. See more articles by Timothy.