Just when we thought the German and British rivalry was beginning to cool, Jaguar announces a full-out assault on the BMW product line.
We’ve known for months that Jaguar has a BMW 3 Series-fighting mid-size sedan in the works. Now we’re learning, however, that the British brand aims to drop both another compact coupe and a new wagon as close to 2015 as possible.
Based upon Jaguar’s new iQ[Al] aluminum architecture, the new vehicles will be powered by three new hybrid drivetrains that Jaguar is feverishly developing.
The new Jaguar hybrid drivetrains will be distinctly separate from the Range Rover hybrid system. The Jaguar units will cut C02 and also improve performance, “even if only for short bursts, like KERS in F1,” said Jaguar Global Brand Director Adrian Hallmark in an interview with Auto Express.
“In order to play among the big animals in automotive and to be anchored in the mind of customers you have to have offered something unique, to be first in market,” Jaguar Land Rover Director of Research and Technology, Wolfgang Epple, said in a European Automotive News interview.
“We want to build the best-looking car in the segment, so design appeal is number one,” Hallmark added.
Jaguar Land Rover is so keen on improving R&D that it has announced a new National Automotive Innovation Campus that will be built in central England for a paltry $151 million.
We’re not sure what Jaguar could do that’s new and hasn’t yet been done in terms of hybrid sports sedans or wagons. We suppose that Jag could make a relatively affordable hybrid compact sports coupe. Even that, though, isn’t revolutionary.
Regardless, we would love to see the Brits take on the Germans for European sport luxury dominance. After having driven the Jaguar F-Type, we think that Jag has the design and performance chops to give Fritz and his friends a run for their money.
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