2007 Jaguar Xk8 Convertible 33k Miles Alpine Burl Veneer Luxury Pkg Call Shaun on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Has the Jaguar XKR-S Sportbrake leaked out early?

Want to haul ass down the Autobahn with the whole family and all their gear in tow? Forget that Porsche Cayenne or Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 - what you'll want is a power wagon: something like an Audi RS6 Avant or Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Estate. Unfortunately there are precious few of these performance station wagons on the market anywhere, especially with American offerings like the Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon on its way out and the Dodge Magnum SRT8 long gone. But there's a new challenger emerging.
That'd be the Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake, a hi-po estate from Coventry that's been a long time in the making. And now it's apparently almost here. (Only by "here," we mean "there," as it's not likely ever to come to the United States.)
Apparently set to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show is a Frankenstein-style cross between a Jaguar XF Sportbrake and XFR-S performance sedan, taking the best elements from both. From the former, that means the extended roofline that gives it the cargo capacity of a small crossover. From the former, that means a 5.0-liter supercharged V8 producing 542 horsepower and 502 pound-feet of torque, driving the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Jaguar could replace two of its slow-selling sedans with a compact hatchback

Jaguar needs a home run, and it might merge the slow-selling XE and XF into a single model in a swing for the fences. The company is considering several ways to replace its two smallest sedans, and one option on the table is filling the gaps they'll create with a compact hatchback that would take Jaguar into a segment it's never been in before. Nothing is official yet, and Jaguar still hasn't ruled out developing a direct successor to each model, but British magazine Autocar learned at least two other options are being evaluated. Julian Thomson, the company's design boss, suggested their spot might be filled by a city-friendly hatch that would stretch about 177 inches from bumper to bumper, a figure that would catapult it into a segment dominated by the Audi A3, the BMW 1 Series, and the Mercedes-Benz A-Class. It would lure a new set of customers into the company's global showrooms. "I'd love to do smaller cars, and it feels as though the time is right. Jaguar needs a global product that could appeal to younger buyers, and more females as well," Thomson the publication. Although that's simple on paper, it's a lot more difficult to achieve in real life. "It's a tough sector. You need big numbers, which means big factories, and a big organization to sell them. But that's definitely where I would like us to be." Jaguar would need to find a cost-effective way to build the model. Developing an architecture from scratch is one possibility, though it's an expensive one for a company whose financial foundations are shaky at best. It could use its new MLA platform if it's flexible enough to underpin a small car, or it could ask BMW — which it's linked to via several on-going partnerships — to use the front-wheel-drive UKL architecture found under the aforementioned 1. One point the original report doesn't address is that, while a hatchback in the vein of the A3 would do well in Europe, it would fall flat on its face in the United States. That's why Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz all added a trunk to their Euro-flavored hatches for American buyers who prefer three-box sedans. Jaguar would either need to do the same, meaning it would replace two sedans with a hatchback turned into a sedan, or it would end up giving up thousands of sales in one of the world's largest car markets, which would be counterintuitive. Another possibility floated by Autocar is replacing the XE (pictured) and the XF with a compact sedan described as eco-focused.

Here's what a front-row seat looked like in 2014 Mille Miglia

From 1927 to 1957, the Mille Miglia was one of the great, romantic European road races of the golden era of motorsports. The cars were fast, beautiful and loud but also extremely dangerous and regularly claimed drivers' lives. After two fatal accidents in '57, the event finally had to reform and came back in 1977 as a historic rally held over the course of several days. That didn't make things boring, though, and Xcar found that out firsthand with a front-row seat to this year's race in a 2015 Jaguar F-Type R Coupe.
Xcar was actually following the Jaguar team this year that included Ian Callum and Jay Leno in an XK120, which we previously got a glimpse of when it was covered on Jay Leno's Garage. Where Leno focuses on a more personal story of competing, this one takes a more macro view. You really get an idea of how crazy the Mille Miglia still is, and while the F-Type is way too new to actually compete in the rally, it can still wear an event sticker and drive with the vintage racers.
One amazing fact about today's Mille Miglia is that if you're competing in the event, there are basically no rules. The roads are technically still open to traffic, but the police shut down intersections and provide a rolling roadblock. Xcar's F-Type alternated between following on the course with the classics and snipping off chunks of the route to watch the participants arrive at each stop. Check out the video to experience fantastic historic rally.