Fuel-efficient wildcat: Jaguar details the 2016 XE’s Ingenium engines

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While it may sound like the MacGuffin for the next Avatar movie, Ingenium is Jaguar and corporate sibling Land Rover’s answer to efficiency-focused engines from other manufacturers, like Volvo’s Drive-E series.

The engines won’t be ready to launch for awhile, so to provide some interim fodder for Google, Jaguar released a few details about these next-generation power plants.

All versions will be turbocharged and feature aluminum blocks based around modular 500-cc cylinders. They’ll be able to grow or shrink depending on the application, and as previously reported, there will be both gasoline and diesel version.

That should give Jaguar and Land Rover plenty of flexibility, which they will need. The XE will share a platform with the upcoming Jag crossover, and it’s likely Ingenium applications won’t be limited to those two vehicles.

Of course, not every version will make it to the U.S. The diesels are probably intended for Europe only, while buyers on this side of the Atlantic will likely get 2.0-liter gasoline versions with varying power outputs.

Speaking of power, Jaguar says it will be class leading. As far as four-cylinder engines in comparable models goes, that means it will have to beat the 272 horsepower offered by the 2.0-liter turbo four in the Cadillac ATS.

We’ll have to wait awhile to find out how the two compare, though. Production of the first Ingenium engine – a 2.0-liter diesel – doesn’t start until late 2015.