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Jaguar design boss admits X-Type was a mistake

History has a way of repeating itself, especially in the auto industry. When Jaguar was owned by Ford, the British brand attempted to field a competitor for the BMW 3 Series, called the X-Type. Based on the bones of a Ford Mondeo, it aped the styling of Jaguar's flagship model, the XJ, while borrowing liberally from the Ford parts bin. That was 2001.
Now, in 2013, Jaguar is planning a new 3 Series challenger based on the platform previewed by the C-X17 Concept, while Ford is attempting to take the latest Mondeo upmarket. The moves have both brands recognizing where, why, and how the X-Type failed. "It didn't look mature or powerful or anything. It was just a car," Jaguar's current head of advanced design, Julian Thomson, told PistonHeads. Basing the X-Type on a front-drive car while giving it styling that was meant for a rear-driver lead to proportions that "were plainly wrong," Thomson told PH. Ford's European head of quality, Gunnar Herrmann, added that the X-Type was "a fake Jaguar, because every piece I touch is Ford."
For what it's worth, the X-Type's successor in the segment will sport rear-drive, with plenty of input from Ian Callum. Thomson described the new model, which would challenge the 3 Series as having, "Big wheels right to the ends of the car, low bonnet, short overhangs, very low cabins." Sounds good to us.

Jaguar F-Type Coupe unveiled with range-topping R model

This is the Jaguar F-Type Coupe, the long-awaited hardtop counterpart to the F-Type roadster we tested earlier this year. Besides adding a roof, it shuffles up the engine range that we saw on the Convertible model, and in two of three cases, it cuts the cost of entry rather quite nicely (a happy contradiction to earlier reports).
The big change is that the F-Type Coupe does away with the Convertible's V8S trim (although the 495-horsepower variant will still be available in the droptop), and adds an even more potent letter to the top of the range. The $99,000 F-Type R Coupe is the latest member of Jaguar's R Performance line, and despite being down a letter on the XFR-S and XKR-S, it features the same 5.0-liter, 550-hp supercharged V8. With all that power on tap, the F-Type R will sprint to 60 mph in just 4.0 seconds (if it doesn't break into the 3s in independent testing, we'll be shocked) and on to a top speed of 186 miles per hour. If you need to get to freeway speeds quickly, the F-Type R will also go from 50 to 75 mph in just 2.4 seconds.
As the top tier model, the F-Type R is loaded down with performance-oriented tech. The suspension features adaptive dynamics that manage the car's body movements and adjust accordingly, while the suspension itself is 4.3-percent stiffer in front and 3.7-percent tighter in the back than the F-Type V8S Convertible. Drivers can dial up an even stiffer suspension setting in Dynamic Mode, which will also tweak the steering, the shift schedule of the eight-speed SportShift automatic and the throttle response of that brawny engine.

2014 Jaguar XFR-S is the power and the fury

If there's something wrong about a sedan with a 550-horsepower supercharged V8, we don't want to hear about it. Instead, we want to marvel at the car in person, which is fortuitous because Jaguar has officially unveiled the 2014 XFR-S at the 2012 LA Auto Show. That blown 5.0-liter V8 dishes up a full 502 pound-feet of torque, which is good enough to shuttle the four-door to 60 mph in a scant 4.4 seconds. And, thanks to a start stop system and a few other fuel-saving tricks, the 2014 XFR-S gets away without being hit by the gas guzzler tax.
That's all good news, but we're just as excited about the fact that engineers managed to crank up the vehicle's chassis stiffness by a ludicrous 30 percent. Stiffer dampers and springs also give the car a little more poise, and a wide-open exhaust lets the whole world know you're kicking down their door. You know, in case the electric blue paint and wild body work didn't tip your hand. Check out the full gallery above for a closer look.