March next year sees the 50th anniversary of the Jaguar E-Type’s unveiling at the Geneva Salon, so 2011 would be an ideal and emotionally charged launch pad for a 21st century successor. What’s more, Ratan Tata, chairman of the eponymously named group that now owns Jaguar, has publicly stated that he wants to see a smaller, less costly 2-seater.
But there are a number of issues facing the engineering team if Jaguar is to come up with a Porsche Boxster/BMW Z4-size 2-seater. First, the platform: The Ford-derived C1 platform, underpinning the Land Rover Freelander and forthcoming Range Rover LRX, could be a candidate for relatively little cost. Or the solution could be to use a heavily modified version of Jaguar’s two existing platforms, although an aluminium-intensive chassis could prove too expensive.
The second challenge is the powertrain: Jaguar’s options are too large and powerful for the smaller XE, as Jag has to be careful to keep both the XE’s potential and price from edging too close to the XK’s. Volvo’s inline 5-cylinder is probably too tall, but Ford’s 3.5-liter V-6 could work, although Jaguar would probably want to keep capacity below 3.0 liters.
As for styling, expect Ian Callum and his team to move away from E-Type influences and produce an edgy 2-seater with themes first seen on the new XK and developed through the XF into the latest XJ. Whichever way Jaguar moves, don’t expect to see the real thing until 2013, although a concept is likely to appear ahead of the official launch.
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