West Midlands based Jaguar unveil new 'baby' XE sports saloon
It is perhaps the most important new car in Jaguar's recent history – to take on the might of the German giants in the small executive saloon sector.
The Jaguar XE – dubbed the baby Jag – was unveiled this evening at a lavish £4 million launch, the biggest and most expensive ever in the UK.
More than 3,000 people flocked to Earls Court to see Jaguar Land Rover unveil its XE Sports saloon – the car which will take on the world's biggest auto companies.
The XE is designed to compete with BMW's top-selling 3-Series executive cars, along with others from Mercedes-Benz, Audi and the other big car manufacturers.
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Its secret weapon is the Wolverhampton-built Ingenium engine which will give it a top performance and an incredible 75 miles per gallon. And it will come with a price tag starting at £27,000.
The first car was airlifted from the production line at Solihull to London's Earls Court to be greeted at a glittering event in front of an invited audience of VIPs, journalists and car dealers.
It is estimated that the launch cost JLR around £4m, with actor John Hannah as the host and concert performances from Kaiser Chiefs, Eliza Doolittle and Emeli Sandé who even wrote a special song for the XE. The high performance XE S, which will sit at the top of the range, is fitted with the same three-litre engine as the F-Type sports car.
Dr Ralf Speth, JLR's chief executive officer, said: "The Jaguar XE is a vehicle at the very heart of the UK's manufacturing renaissance. It combines pre-eminent British design with British engineering in a special car for customers around the world.
"This premium mid-sized sports sedan is the outstanding realisation of two new factories, 2,300 new jobs and about £2 billion pounds of investment in the UK.''
The XE will be the first Jaguar vehicle to be produced at the firm's plant in Solihull.
But when it goes on sale next year, it will be the Ingenium engines that will be the car's secret weapon. Ron Lee, JLR's chief engineer, said: "Ingenium will make the new XE the most fuel efficient Jaguar ever – and the greenest."
With sleek lines, drawn up by the best car designers in the world, and packed full of hi-tech equipment, the new Jaguar XE takes British vehicle manufacturing into a new era. The launch event was broadcast around the world, live on the internet, and it underlines the importance of the car to JLR and to the Black Country.
Its popularity will be key to the future of the new £500m engine factory on the i54 site, on the border of Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire.
Just a few hundred staff work there at the moment as they gear up for full production early next year, to tie-in with the XE going on sale. But the faster the car sells, the bigger the demand for the engines and the faster the factory will reach its peak of creating 1,400 new jobs. And there could be more to come if JLR's ambitious plans for new vehicles, all powered by Ingenium engines, become a reality.
The new Discovery Sport, which will replace the Freelander, will also be fitted with those engines next year.
Initially all the engines from Wolverhampton will be diesels, while work continues at full pelt to complete the major petrol engine assembly area next year.
Meanwhile, JLR will be hoping that the new saloon will prove the same kind of success story as its baby Range Rover – the Evoque – which has become the company's biggest selling model since its launch in 2011. With its lower price and smaller size, the Evoque has proved a huge hit, particularly with women drivers. And Jaguar has already made it clear that women behind the wheel are one of its big target markets after it unveiled its female-friendly C-X17 crossover last year – a mix of a big off-road 4x4 and hatchback that is expected to join the JLR line-up soon.
The crossover was also the first car unveiled with Jaguar's new lightweight aluminium bodywork which is also used in the new XE and plays a big role in helping keep the fuel bills low.
Dr Speth said: "JLR is delivering solid financial results and has good sales globally. Our manufacturing plans around the world and product launches are on track."
See also: New Jaguar 'baby' XE sports saloon flies over London.