Upcoming Jaguar Roadster

With Jaguar coming into new ownership last year, many were concerned at the fate that awaited the supercar maker. But the new owners Tata Motors of India, has proven to be totally committed to the Jaguar brand. Ratan Tata has recently reiterated the vision of Tata for Jaguar and it is both attractive and reassuring. The global economic downturn has spread throughout the planet leaving everyone in a financial jumble in its wake. This has been quite difficult for the automotive industry in particular. Jaguar has not been exempt from all these, but it is planning nevertheless to come out of this crisis and that plan includes a focus on a new roadster that many are speculating will be designated as the XE. It was confirmed by Tata that the roadster is well on its way to its development and was actually in the early stages of design sing-off.

Tata recognizes the need to come up with something new and shiny, the rationale for focus on the roadster. However, there seems to be a conflict with the confirmation that the car in development is a roadster and the XE designation based on the 2001 R-Coupe concept. The 2000 F-type concept is a roadster, but it seems unlikely that the new car will be sharing any styling cues with it.

But whatever the design layout of the new model will come in, talks of a 5.0-liter V8 powerplant that can produce 385hp (287kW) in standard trim and 510hp (380kW) with a supercharger still brings into view remarkable performance regardless. However, even Tata's new 3.0-liter V6 diesel unit has enough potency to provide outstanding driving pleasure with 272hp (203kW) and 442lb-ft (600Nm) of torque which can beat the diesel Mercedes-Benz SLK.