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1964 Jaguar XKE slinks into Jay Leno's Garage

The idea of altering a classic Jaguar E-Type might seem preposterous to some, but Jasen Len of XKs Unlimited managed to create a modified 1964 E-Type that stays true to the Jag's timeless design. Just a few months after Jay Leno featured his own original E-Type on Jay Leno's Garage, Len stopped by to show off his custom Jaguar creation.
Starting out with a rust-ravaged body, Len made the car just the way he wanted it to be. He started off with some minor changes to the car's exterior like the Le Mans-inspired racing lights and handmade front bumpers, handmade sills with integrated exhaust and flared rear fenders. Inside, he dropped the floor to make more interior space and reworked the E-Type's styling for more of a modern look. We have to say, if you're going to mess with a Series 1 E-Type, this is the way to do it.
Sadly, even though Len and Leno spend plenty of time talking about the car's 300-horsepower 3.8-liter inline six-cylinder, we never get to hear the car fire up. Check out the JLG video, which is posted below, and as a bonus, enjoy the gallery from Jaguar showing a 1961 E-Type.

Jaguar ousts Lexus from atop J.D. Power 2013 Sales Satisfaction Index

Jaguar has taken the top spot among luxury brands in the 2013 Sales Satisfaction Index, an annual survey conducted by J.D. Power that measures customer satisfaction with the experience of purchasing a new vehicle. The English brand, not even among the top three luxury automakers on the list last year, vaulted ahead of Lexus, which placed third this year after leading the list in 2011 and 2012. Porsche, meanwhile, moved into second place.
The rankings are based on a point score out of 1,000, with Jaguar earning 740 points, Porsche right behind with 739 and Lexus with 737. Volvo, meanwhile, made the biggest improvement among luxury brands with a 30-point jump to 708, bring it up from 11th place to 9th this year.
J.D. Power has a separate ranking for mass-market brands, and this year Mini again tops the list with a score of 718, far outpacing second-place Buick with a score of 694 and making it the fourth time Mini has lead this list. After Buick, the next two ranked brands are both American and both from General Motors, with Chevrolet and GMC sharing third place with a score of 686.

Jaguar's Callum refutes two XJ bodystyle rumor

Not long ago, we relayed word from Edmunds that Jaguar was planning to split its next-generation XJ sedan into two bodystyles - one model that continued the ambitious design approach fostered with the current X351-based model, and another, more upright model to better appeal to China's conservative design sensibilities.
We expressed some cynicism in the idea, noting that such a strategy "might catch more profits for the marque, but it might also represent a setback to design head Ian Callum's vision for a thoroughly modern Jaguar portfolio." Callum has been quite insistent in his belief that Jag needs to be a forward-thinking brand in terms of design, and the two-model strategy seemed to conflict with that idea. We tried to get some comment from Callum at that time, but were unable to reach him.
As it turns out, our cynicism was well-placed. Autocar says that while the next XJ will continue to have two wheelbases, Callum has denied the two-model talk, saying flatly: "I can't see us doing two bodystyles. The cost would be enormous and the message inconsistent. You have to believe in what you produce and to do two bodystyles would undermine that."