The new Jaguar XF puts pressure on the Mercedes E-Class

Jaguar XF
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Jaguar showed the new Jaguar XF in a special event in London. The car will debut at the New York Auto Show on April 1, 2015.

The all-new Jaguar XF has been revealed during a dramatic ‘high-wire’ water crossing in the heart of London’s business district. The car will debut at the New York Auto Show on April 1, 2015 and the sales will start in the autumn of 2015.

Inspired by the XE design, Jaguar said that the new Jaguar XF is lighter, more efficient and with unrivalled refinement, dynamics and design. At the first preview, Jaguar didn’t give too many technical details.

Jaguar claims that the new XF has a structure with 75% aluminium, which helps to reduce its weight by 190 kg, compared with its predecessor and benefits from a 28% increase in torsional rigidity.

The Jaguar XF is based on the new modular aluminium architecture used for the new XE and for the future F-Pace.

The engine range comes from the XE and the F-Type: the new 2 litre turbodiesel Ingenium engine with 163 HP, the 2 litre petrol turbo with 240 HP and the two 3 litre supercharged V6 with 340 HP and 380 HP.

Except the 2 litre Ingenium diesel, which can be combined with a 6 speed manual gearbox, all other engines are matched exclusively with an eight speed automatic gearbox.

Even with the other engines planned for the future (a more powerful 2 litre Ingenium engine with 180 HP and a 3.0 litre V6 twin turbo diesel with 300 HP), Jaguar cannot compete with the E-Class range, which comes with five diesel engines and four petrol engines plus the AMG version. But for the future, we also expect a XF R version with the supercharged 5.0 litre V8 engine.

It seems that the XF 2 litre Ingenium engine has an advantage against the E 200 Bluetec in therms of fuel consumption and emissions. Jaguar claims emissions of only 104 g/km for the 2 litre Ingenium engine with 163 HP and 6 speed manual gearbox, which represents 15 g/km less than the E 200 BlueTec with 2.2 litre/136 HP also with manual gearbox.

Jaguar promises that the new light and stiff body structure together with the double wishbone, integral link suspension and close to 50/50% weight distribution will deliver a superb balance between agility, comfort and refinement.

The XF will also benefit from the Jaguar Adaptive Dynamics drive train launched in the F-Type, which will allow the driver to individually tailor settings of the dampers, steering, engine and transmission.

A new four wheel drive system will be available for some markets, but Jaguar does not communicate for which of the engines it will be available. Mercedes now has five engines available with the 4Matic system (E 220 BlueTec, E 250 BlueTec, E 350 BlueTec, E 400, E 500 plus the E 63 AMG).

The first XF press release does not mention anything about a Hybrid version. The current E-Class generation has a mild hybrid E 400 Hybrid and the new generation planned for 2016 will get a Plug-In Hybrid version.

Despite the length of 4,954 mm is by 7 mm shorter than the former generation, the  XF’s 2,960 mm wheelbase is 51 mm longer, enabling Jaguar to promise  “the class-leading rear seat space”. These values have to be confirmed in the first comparison test up against the Mercedes E-Class, the BMW 5 Series and the Audi A6.

And what about the interior ? Here, Jaguar seems to be fresher than Mercedes. A new 10.2 touchscreen display of the new multimedia system InControl Touch pro can be found in the centre of the dashboard, while the digital 12.3 inch instrument cluster is reconfigurable like in the case of the XJ.

In the same time, the XF will be the first Jaguar to offer full LED headlights.

The new XF will be manufactured at the Jaguar Land Rover’s Castle Bromwich Plant, alongside the all-aluminium F-Type, XJ and the future F-Pace.