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Jaguar XE Looking to Overthrow BMW 3 Series

Bolder statements have scarcely come from the Island towards the Germans in the past. Perhaps with the exception of the second World War the two nations have been rather... polite to each other, no matter what they truly felt.
Jaguar XE Spyshots 1 photo
Photo: Automedia
Today, Jaguar is working to undermine the traditional 3 cars that rule the premium mid-size sedan segment, all of them from Germany. We’re talking, of course, about the Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and the reigning king, the BMW 3 Series.

Apparently officials are currently claiming that the upcoming XE model will be taking a considerable chunk out of the market share of the Bimmer, bringing both individuality, more quality and performance to the table.

It’s been no secret that the Brits are working on the new model for quite a while now and we even saw the car in a few spyshots up until now but we didn’t hear such daring claims so far.

Jaguar even went as far as to say that the XE will be “the most advanced, efficient and refined sports sedan in its class" and they claim that the recipe for success was to infuse the spirit of the new F-Type (which is a brilliant car, by the way) into the new model.

Seeing them so determined, one can only ask himself if they really mean business. Apart from challenging the reigning king of the segment for 5 generations, they are obviously also trying to capitalize on the publicity such statements would cause.

The new Jag will use a fresh engine family called ‘Ingenium’ that is supposed to be fitted to these cars for the first time, using a 4-cylinder architecture with low-friction, low emissions and a lightweight design, meant to keep up with the competition.

According to the performance claims the Brits posted earlier, the top of the range XE version should be able to do 186 mph (300 km/h) which isn’t easy to achieve without some serious power, close to the 300 HP number, depending on the weight of the vehicle.

If such an engine will become reality, expect a lot of good things to happen in the mid-size premium sedan segment as it will push all the other manufacturers to either drop their prices or make fitting adjustments to keep up, BMW included.

The XE platform is also going to spawn a coupe of new variations such as estates, coupes and convertibles, therefore becoming more menacing even for the brand new 4 Series. Let’s see what Jaguar can come up with!
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