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Jaguar may join the FWD, small-car parade

Was it right for Chevrolet to detune the 1975 Corvette's base engine to 165 horsepower? Was Aston Martin wrong to make the Toyota iQ-based Cygnet? Is BMW crazy to be testing the new 1 Series with three-cylinder engines and front-wheel drive? It seems now, just as in the 1970s and 1980s, that emissions regulations and social considerations are driving some automakers to adopt unbefitting practices to maintain acceptance in the eyes of governments and consumers. Jaguar has jumped on the bandwagon, and is considering development of small, frugal, front-wheel-drive cars to help lower Jaguar Land Rover's average vehicle CO2 levels in light of tightening European emissions regulations, Autocar reports.
By 2020, the European Union expects the model range of every manufacturer to average 95 grams per kilometer, which is a new law passed by the European Parliament in April. Manufacturers who make more than 300,000 vehicles per year must meet these targets, and JLR is expected to be producing up to 700,000 vehicles per year by then. CO2 regulations after 2020 will only get stricter, as EU politicians already are talking about lowering CO2 levels to between 68 g/km and 78 g/km. (To put that in perspective, Autocar posits that driving a fully charged electric vehicle in Europe produces about 75 g/km when factoring in the power-generation infrastructure.)
Jaguar has some choices here, but so far they all have drawbacks. It could develop a new, compact chassis architecture for a line of compact vehicles, but the investment required for such a project could be prohibitively expensive. Jaguar has been looking into using the Land Rover Evoque platform for a small SUV, Autocar reports, but Land Rover brand manager John Edwards raises issue with such a plan, saying it may not be financially feasible.

Jaguar F-Type US order guide loose online

An alleged US order guide for the 2014 Jaguar F-Type has made its way online courtesy of the good people at F-TypeClub.com, documenting everything from wheel color options to special equipment packages. From the looks of things, buyers will be able to choose from a total of eight wheel designs in sizes ranging from 18 inches on the base model all the way up to 20 inches. While most of those rollers are available in either silver or black finishes, the 20-inch blade-style wheels are not only forged, but come with carbon-fiber trim. Fancy.
Depending on trim, F-Type buyers will get to choose between two types of seat, including a set of performance-style 14-way power adjustable thrones, complete with seat belts in black, red or tan. Other fun tricks include available power folding side view mirrors and a 770-watt, 14-speaker Meridian sound system.

Jaguar's design boss wants to build another sports car model

The global sports car segment is facing a strong, glacial headwind, but Jaguar believes smoother waters are right around the corner. One of the company's top executives predicted the market will recover in the coming years, and he wants his team to be ahead of the curve when that happens. "Jaguar will always build sports cars. I'd love to do more than one," affirmed Julian Thomson, the man who replaced Ian Callum at the head of the brand's design department, in an interview with British magazine Auto Express. The only sports car currently in the Jaguar portfolio is the F-Type. While enthusiasts still love sports cars, the run-of-the-mill buyers that keep automakers profitable have rejected them in favor of crossovers and SUVs. And, requests for cleaner, more efficient cars make developing fun cars considerably more difficult; even Mazda is looking into taking the Miata into hybrid or electric territory. Jaguar faces the same challenges, but Thomson expects the sports car segment will rise up from its ashes when motorists realize they're trapped in a sea of crossovers. "In this day and age of electrification and autonomous technology, a part of me thinks there may be a resurgence of people enjoying transportation for transportation's sake, and driving for driving's sake," he said. "Whether that makes the market bigger I don’t know, but I think there is a threat to volume production cars, and they are going to struggle to find a position on what they do. IÂ’d hope that truly special and luxury cars, sports cars, will find a place where they have the option to be more exotic." He stopped short of confirming a second sports car is under development, so it's far too early to pinpoint the segment it would compete in. In the meantime, Jaguar just gave the F-Type a facelift (pictured), and its vehicle development team has already started working on the model's successor. The rumor mill has started spinning; we've heard reports of the nameplate pulling a Corvette by going mid-engined, adopting BMW's 4.4-liter V8, and getting a battery-electric powertrain. The latter option would slot neatly into Jaguar's electrification push, but Thomson hinted it's easier said than done. He explained making an electric sports car with a huge amount of power, like the 2,000-horsepower Lotus Evija, is not the answer.