autoevolution
 

Jaguar Looking to Take on the M3 as Well with the XE SVR - Report

After Alfa Romeo announced that it’s going after the crown of the M3, another manufacturer wants to take a few swings at the undisputed champion. This time, it’s Jaguar.
Jaguar XE 1 photo
Photo: http://www.guilinhd.com/data/upload/uploadpic/2014/03/27/0f907e5e967a09eb26c0d97e6175af37.jpg
The British company has been hard at work trying to come up with a car that will eat some up some of that huge market in which the 3 Series is leading at the moment. The best selling car from BMW seems to be dead in the water if we’re to believe what the Brits are saying.

According to them, their new model will simply take over in the mid-size segment and leave the likes of the 3 Series and C-Class behind, not to mention the A4. We’ll have to wait and see about that.

Now, they are announcing a high-performance version of the XE that will be dubbed the Jaguar XE SVR (they really have a thing for all sorts of abbreviations, don’t they?). According to Auto Express, this car will be powered by the same 5-liter supercharged V8 from the F-Type, a car that we really like when we reviewed it.

However, in this case, the engine will be tuned to make around 490 HP, a bit more than the 431 HP the inline 6-cylinder twin turbo engine of the M3 makes at the moment. Of course, there will be other changes done to the stock car as well.

Apart from the design (that is bound to be more aggressive) the car will also have a lower suspension, better brakes and a recalibrated 8-speed gearbox to deal with that power. A limited-slip differential is also rumored.

If that will be the case, the car could reach under 4 seconds for the 0-62 sprint as long as Jaguar’s newly created Special Vehicle Operations unit will be capable of creating a rear axle that will handle that kind of power without losing too much grip.

However, as we all know, having tons of power is just part of the equation. BMW’s been hard at work to shed weight off its cars and make them more agile and controllable on the track, things that really matter, especially in this niche. There have been other attempts at taking the M3’s crown away but nobody managed to do so until now. The biggest threat is still Mercedes-Benz’s C63 AMG. That’s what the Bavarians need to be on the look-out for.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories