The release of the 2014 F-type is just the beginning for Jaguar. Expect to see an all-new XF, XJ, XK, and more within the next five years.
F-Type
Jaguar is on a roll thanks to its new F-Type, which looks quite fetching even if it may not stir one’s glands in quite the same way as the E-Type did way back when. After the F-Type roadster goes on sale, we will see a coupe, soon-to-be-renamed SC and R versions, an all-wheel drive model, and a hot and hairy GT street racer. It all sounds remarkably like the formula Porsche has perfected with the 911.
XK
Already in the pipeline is a new XK, which must, for cost reasons, use a modified version of the existing platform. The recipe is quite simple: more power, more torque, more equipment, and more prestige all wrapped in a slightly bigger and allegedly even more striking body than now. All of that should help position the next top-of-the-line Jaguar sports car almost a full notch above the current model.
3-Series Fighter
The most significant game-changer from Coventry is project X760. This past summer, the new entry-level rear- and all-wheel-drive Jaguar aimed at the Audi A4, the BMW 3-Series, and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class was given the official go-ahead. The first-generation model is likely to be available in two body styles: a stylish four-door sedan due in 2015 and a sporty five-door crossover that follows in 2016. X760 is an integral part of Jaguar’s premium lightweight architecture (PLA), which is scalable as far as the material mix is concerned and modular in terms of engineering content. Case in point, PLA is already in use with the current Jaguar XJ and the 2013 Land Rover Range Rover.
XF
The next XF – codenamed X260 – is scheduled to carry on in sedan and Sportbrake (wagon) form. A coupe and a convertible are nice options in this segment, but if Jaguar can fund a third model, it would probably be a Land Rover/Range Rover–derived crossover.
XJ
The marque’s strategy for the future XJ (X360) is quite interesting. If all goes according to plan, we may see up to three different XJ models when the current car is replaced in 2017. Absolutely cast in stone is “an absolutely lickable, damn good-looking” high-end sedan that “is going to be even more desirable than a Bentley Continental Flying Spur for half the price.”
Number two in line is a proper XJ replacement, and here is where the internal debate is raging – choices are between a pretty but conventional four-door sedan and a slightly off-beat, emphatically avant-garde design. The outcome of this discussion may be influenced by whether Jaguar (and parent company Tata) can afford a third XJ model, which would likely be a four-seat, four-door coupe “that is breathtakingly beautiful inside and out.” If the CLS/Gran Coupe fighter gets the nod, then the mainstay XJ will probably be less extroverted than the car it replaces.
By : Georg Kacher
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