2011 Jaguar Xk Coupe on 2040-cars

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Jaguar crossover won't be based on Evoque or have off-road chops

Jaguar's long-rumored crossover won't be built on the same platform as the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, says the Australian site Car Advice. The future of the new CUV remains uncertain, but if Jaguar does dip its toes into the SUV/crossover pool, though, the new vehicle will likely be a car-based soft roader, lacking (or perhaps more appropriately, not needing) the off-road-engineered chops inherent in Land Rover's small CUV platform.
Jaguar product planner Steven De Ploey explained to Car Advice, "There's many groups around the world [platform sharing] - obviously Volkswagen Group is doing it all the time - but I think we have to be careful. He added, "Jaguar is something quite different... It's about capability, but very much on-road focused capability." That seems to gel with our suspicions that the XQ, as it's expected to be called, will share its platform with an upcoming small Jaguar sedan, the oft-rumored X-Type successor.
Still, we'd recommend taking any mention of a Jaguar crossover with a grain of salt. Based on many of the (quite compelling) statements made by De Ploey against a Jag crossover and previous statements made by Jag's design boss, Ian Callum, the case against a leaper-bearing crossover seems strong. If a high-rider were to arrive from Jaguar, though, the article insinuates that it'd be more in line with the BMW X6 or upcoming X4 - sort of a coupe-based crossover. Like we said, grain of salt. If a Jag crossover is going to arrive soon, the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show is the most likely locale for its debut. We'll find out in a few weeks.

Is Jaguar testing an electrified XE?

Rumors about Jaguar Land Rover moving further into electrification for its models have been circulating for the last several months. Thanks to some new spy shots, there's even more evidence that the company could have a hybrid or electric model on the way. According to our spies, this rather innocuous looking XE was spied with a group of camouflaged XF and F-Pace prototypes in Spain. Everything about the luxury sedan looks fairly stock until you see the rear end. There, just under the taillight, is a circular blue badge with an "E" in it. That emblem and the vehicle being with other test cars hints at the possibility of Jaguar doing something electrified with the vehicle. Unfortunately, there are no other clues here to determine exactly what is happening underneath the skin. Jaguar Land Rover has been insinuating its intention to build greener models for a while. The company even founded an engineering center partially for them in 2013. A fully electric powertrain is reportedly under development to slot into the F-Pace and maybe also for a Land Rover. Meanwhile, Jag has a trademark on the name EV-Type. With these new photos, the signs of JLR's coming electrification continue to mount.

40+ cars that barely avoid the gas guzzler tax

The Gas Guzzler schedule, with mpg ratings and charges that haven't changed since 1991, lays out which fuel-swillers owe what to Uncle Sam.
I started thinking about the "Gas Guzzler Tax" - considerably less well known as The Energy Tax Act of 1978 - when I was driving Dodge's new Challenger SRT Hellcat last week. Unsurprisingly for a car that can burn 1.5 gallons of gas per minute at max tilt, theoretically able to empty a full tank of premium in about 13 minutes, the Hellcat will be subject to the Gas Guzzler Tax schedule when it goes on sale.