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Jaguar XD Premium Five-Door Hatchback Rendered

Interested in buying a premium German hatchback? Of course you are, since these models have pretty much everything you need in a car, from comfort to economy and performance.
Jaguar XD 1 photo
Photo: Theophilus Chin
But what if you didn't want to buy German? Well, then you're pretty much stuck with either the Lexus CT, the Volvo V40 and the Citroen DS4… which you should avoid.

Jaguar once considered launching such a car, but the plans for a British A-Class never materialized. These renderings created by Theophilus Chin show what could happen if they ever decided to revisit that idea and maybe chop the XE sedan into a smaller form.

Theophilus calls his creation the XD, admitting that it looks like an emoticon. Of course, Jaguar probably can't use that name since there's a Scion currently using it. But their crossover, the recently named F-Pace, shows they can be creative with letters when they need to be.

The XD digital concept is envisioned as a rear-wheel drive car, so it's closer to the BMW 1 Series than the Audi A3 and Mercedes A-Class. Jaguar's new family of Ingenium 2-liter engines seems efficient enough to power a competitive rival to the A 220 CDI or A3 2.0 TDI. However, Jaguar has no small engines available.

1 Series rival speculation proved unfounded

In 2011, Auto Express wrote a story called "Jaguar's new 1-Series rival exposed", probably spurred by the recent launch from the Bavarians. In that story, they claimed the smallest ever Leaper would arrive in 2014 and may cost from just £20,000. There was also a nearly identical report from Autocar, which said the hatch would arrive in 2014 costing up to £40,000.

Jaguar is known for talking up a storm about any future product to drum up attention and support. At the time, Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar’s global brand director made this statement: “We won’t have a 1-Series-sized car for five to 10 years, but we’re working on some compelling alternative bodystyles that are anti-German luxury car establishment.”

Basically, what that tells us is that the Jaguar hatchback can still happen, some time between now and 2021. If the Brits aren't too busy making the new XF, XK and XJ, maybe the will notice how that the A-Class and A3 models probably outnumbers Jags on British roads many times. Thing small to make it big, Jag, and maybe visit the Q3/GLA segment while you're at it.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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