Jaguar News

Jaguar's rentry into this year's much anticipated Le Mans classis car race, source of so many past victories for Jaguar Cars, ended in a dismal fizzle for the Paul Gentilozzi team soon after the 81st running of the event began.

The team car retired after a mere four laps due to the dreaded and much touted problems that Jaguar Cars seem to always have (both by history and popular myth) to electrical problems. While the car was seemingly well prepared and expectations were high, once on court, Jaguar failed to even get a serve over the net before foot faulting their way out of the match.

Interestingly enough, after thorough searching of Internet news sources, only the scantist of facts and comment could be found. Jaguar.com's web site mentions nothing of the disappointing effort, though still proclaims a news release with some excellent pictures of the car, arrrayed in lively and exciting green colors and logos.

It has been 20 years since Jaguar has last seen the winners circle at the prestigious "24 HEURES DU MANS." Hopefully next year is the year that the Jaguar Faithful can rejoyce to hopefully begin another run of victories and re-live the glories of the 1950's once again.

Jaguar is set to take the fight to the likes of Audi's A5, BMW 3-series coupe and Mercedes-Benz CLK-class with a new sports coupe that shares the same platform with the XF sedan.

In an exclusive scoop in the current issue of Auto Express, the pictures of the new coupe shows off a brilliant combination of gorgeous looks and driver appeal inspired by the C-XF concept car penned by former Aston Martin design Ian Cullum. The front-end boasts a gaping front grille flanked by a set of ultra-thin and aggressively styled headlights incorporating LED technology, and an impressive bonnet bulge which hints at the power that lurks within.

The side profile of the XF coupe is equally as impressive with a high, chiseled waistline proclaiming its sporty intentions while the rear-end features a pair of thinly designed taillights, a bold chrome strip and a set of aggressively styled quad exhaust tips.

Power will reportedly come from a range of engines including a 3.0-litre twin-turbodiesel and a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 developing in excess of 368 kW for the flagship model.

The Jaguar XF coupe is due on the market in 2010.

The Jaguar F-Type first appeared as the XK180 Concept in 1998. Since then the company has been hit by bad financial health and had to cancel the project, although a couple of years ago rumours surfaced that it would go into production. With the appearance of new owner Tata, it seems the F-Type is truly and finally in business. It will be a driver-focused sports car featuring cutting-edge engines and technologies.

More news from Jaguar Land Rover is that a fourth Range Rover model, a BMW 3 Series competitor and a new Estate are on the cards. Furthermore, China and India are to receive new company factories just as plans continue for the closure of one UK plant.

"It is much better for a car company to have one large factory, than two small ones," Tata Motors Group CEO Carl-Peter Forster said. "This move isn't about taking volume out of the UK. It's about strengthening business in emerging markets."

According to a recent report, the Jaguar XKR Goodwood Special has been approved for production.

While attending the 24 Hours of Le Mans, PistonHeads was able to chat with Jaguar's managing director, Mike O'Driscoll, who revealed the production model has lapped the Nurburgring Nordschleife in 7 minutes 58 seconds. He added, "This is definitely not a level of performance anyone would have associated with the XKR before now." While he declined to provide additional performance specifications, O'Driscoll said the car will have a top speed of 186 mph (300 km/h)

As you may remember, the Goodwood Special was unveiled at the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed. It featured a supercharged 5.0-liter V8 with 523 hp (390 kW / 530 PS) and 516 lb-ft (699 Nm) of torque - an increase of 13 hp (10 kW / 13 PS) and 55 lb-ft (74 Nm) over the standard XKR. Other goodies included a lowered suspension, 21-inch alloy wheels, and a modified four-tailpipe exhaust system.