Vanden Plas*entertiment Dvd*chrome Wheels*heated Seats*we Finance on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Jaguar names its 3 Series-fighter XE, packs it with Ingenium engines

Jaguar is committed to emerging from the fringes of the luxury car market and into the mainstream. Just take a look at where it was a couple of decades ago and where it is now: In the 1980s, it had essentially two product lines, the XJ sedan and XJ-S coupe/convertible), and now it's got the XK coupe and convertible, the XJ sedan, the XF sedan and wagon and the F-Type coupe and roadster. But it's not about to stop there.
Coventry knows that if it's going to take on the German and Japanese heavyweights, it's going to need a compact sports sedan, and it's not about to repeat the mistake that was the X-Type. To that end, it's long been rumored to be developing a rival to the likes of the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class - it just hasn't given us much to go on. But that changes right here and now.
At the Geneva Motor Show, Jaguar has confirmed the imminent arrival of its new sports sedan, and along with the teaser image above, has given us some juicy details. For one, it'll be called the XE - fitting nicely alongside its big brothers the XF and XJ in Jaguar's growing sedan lineup. For another, it'll hit markets overseas in 2015 and arrive here in the United States in 2016.

Evil Brits star in Jaguar's first-ever Super Bowl commercial

Chrysler's Imported from Detroit commercial from Super Bowl XLV is one of the most powerful car commercials in recent memory, and Jaguar is taking a similar approach - albeit with a more villainous spin - for its first-ever Super Bowl spot titled Rendezvous. While Chrysler and Eminem focused on hometown cheerleading, Jaguar is using its $8 million (the going rate for a 60-second commercial in this year's game) to play up the Hollywood tradition of typecasting a Brit as the bad guy.
In the spot highlighting the all-new F-Type Coupe, Jaguar looked to director Tom Hooper (the man behind movies like The King's Speech and 2012's Les Misérables), who filmed on location in London with British bad guy actors Mark Strong, Ben Kingsley and Tom Hiddleston. As the commercial implies, Brits make perfect bad guys with their style, sound and power, which are all traits evident in the F-Type.
The commercial will air in the fourth quarter of this Sunday's game, but you can watch it now in the video posted below. Jaguar has also included a press release as well as a second behind-the-scenes video showing how the ad was made.

Jaguar Project 7 Concept

The Jaguar Project 7 Concept debuted at the Goodwood Festival of Speed just last month. But unlike most concepts, which serve only to collect fingerprints on a stage, the track-ready one-seater spent its days barreling past the hillclimb crowds with Mike Cross, chief engineer of vehicle integrity at Jaguar, beaming behind its right-hand-drive steering wheel. What's more, the powers that be at Jaguar even let yours truly drive the Project 7 during the Concurs d'Elegance festivities at Pebble Beach last week.
Built on an all-aluminum V8 F-Type chassis with modified suspension, the Project 7 (a name acknowledging Jaguar's seven Le Mans wins between 1951-1990) is best thought of as an F-Type masquerading as a D-Type. The two-door is fitted with a supercharged 5.0-liter V8 good for 550 horsepower (no pictures as Jaguar wouldn't allow us to open the hood). An eight-speed automatic, with a torque converter, sends the power the rear wheels, allowing the single-seat roadster to crack the 60-mph benchmark in just over four seconds.
Modifications to the bodywork include a new lowered windshield, carbon-fiber aerodynamics and a rear fairing with integrated rollover hoop. The driving position has also been lowered by more than an inch, allowing the sole occupant to not only escape the airflow, but take advantage of a lower center of gravity.