The official dismissal of the project first came from Jaguar managing director Mike O’Driscoll, who gave his opinion on the matter at the North American International Auto Show. O'Driscoll also said that their current company focus is mainly on the XK, XF and the 2010 XJ replacement.
“I’d love Jaguar to build a sports car one day,” he said. “It would complement our flagship XK coupé. The brand is all about producing great sports cars and sports saloons.”
The AutoExpress scoop is now also being dismissed by Autoweek's European connection, Julian Rendell, who says that such project doesn't and will not exist, at least in its current form. Since Jaguar has patented the names XE, C-XE and C-XJ this can only mean that a new car really is in the pipeline, it just won't be a supercar.
Rendell said that the new Indian owners want to tackle the likes of Porsche Boxster, Mercedes-Benz SLK and BMW Z4 with Jaguar's new XE model, which means the alleged 200-mph supercar might actually be a compact premium roadster with a front mid-engine configuration.
The C-XE name tag will be that of a styling-hinting concept, just like the C-XF was the predecessor in concept form of the production XF sedan. We are expecting the concept to arrive at this year's Frankfurt 63rd International Motor Show, while the XE production version should be ready by the time next year's Geneva Motor Show opens its doors.
Of course, since this is only more speculation and no official confirmations have been sent by Jaguar, also expect a number of yet-to-come “world's first scoops” by AutoExpress in the following months.
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