Jaguar XE / Jaguar F-Type spied

Jaguar XE Spied - looking like a chopped XK

To be honest, we don’t even know now whether Jaguar will call their new, smaller sports car the Jaguar XE or Jaguar F-Type, as there’s talk of them ditching the iconic Jaguar badging in favour of a Germanic numbers-based moniker across the range.

But whatever Jaguar do finally decide to call their new small sports car, we know it’s officially in the planning and has been for more than a year. And now it’s out playing, albeit wrapped up in a chopped XK.

The photo you see above was snapped outside Jaguar’s Gaydon facility and is clearly an XK. Until you look more closely. And then you see that the wheelbase has been shortened by quite a chunk, the door is a lump shorter than it normally would be, the rear overhang has all but disappeared and the bolted on arches at the back perhaps indicate a widened track.

So we get some idea of dimensions of the Jaguar XE/F-Type, if little real idea how it will look yet. We also have some idea of what will go under the bonnet, with new 4-pots on the horizon and a new V6 in the planning it seems likely the cylinder count will be smaller than the XK, although forced induction of one sort or another will probably yield some very interesting numbers.

It probably won’t be just petrol lumps either; there is a strong possibility the new XK will also come with a diesel option – something we’ve been predicting for the XK for a long time. But a 275bhp V6 diesel lump – with its fat reserves of torque – would suit a smaller Jaguar Roadster (did I just say that?).

We think Jaguar are aiming at taking the new XE to Geneva in Spring 2012 for its first outing, so it’s no surprise to see it finally out playing. It will be aimed at taking sales from the Porsche Boxster, Mercedes SLK, BMW Z4 and even the top end Audi TT, with a starting point around £40k

And it probably will.

By Cars UK