Jaguar unveils XE sedan in London

British luxury carmaker, Jaguar has unveiled the XE, its smallest sedan yet, in London. The XE slots below the XF in Jaguar's model line-up and competes with the Audi A4, BMW 3-Series and Mercedes C-Class.

The XE follows the same design language as other Jaguar sedans. The front fascia is similar to the XF and XJ with a similarly styled grille and headlamps with "J-Blade" day-time running lights. The company claims that the rear of the car is inspired by the F-Type. The range- topping XE S features large front air intakes, chrome side vents, rear spoiler and optional 20-inch forged alloy wheels. The car stands 4672 mm long, 1850 mm wide and 1416 mm high with a wheelbase of 2835 mm.

The XE boasts of an aluminium-intensive construction and is the first model developed from Jaguar Land Rover's new modular vehicle architecture. The company claims that it is the lightest, stiffest and most aerodynamic Jaguar saloon ever built with a kerb weight of 1474 kg and a drag coefficient of 0.26.

The XE has a double-wishbone front suspension, which is mounted to a sub-frame with cast aluminium suspension towers. At the rear, Jaguar has provided an integral link suspension, which is said to be superior to a conventional multi-link suspension.

On the inside, the XE comes with a new infotainment system with an 8-inch touchscreen display, SD Card-based navigation, Bluetooth, audio streaming, USB connectivity and WiFi. Other features in the XE include electric power steering, lane departure warning and a new rear-wheel drive traction-control system called All Surface Progress Control.

The XE S is powered by supercharged 3.0-litre, V6 petrol engine that is borrowed from the F-Type. It generates 335 bhp @ 6500 rpm and 450Nm of torque @ 4500 rpm and is coupled to an eight-speed automatic transmission with paddle shift controls. Jaguar claims that the car can do to 0-100 kph sprint in 5.1 seconds and attain an electronically limited top speed of 250 kph.

Lesser variants will be powered by a range of 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder petrol and diesel engines from Jaguar's new Ingenium engine family. These engines will be mated to 6-speed manual and 8-speed automatic transmissions.  The first Ingenium engine to come of the line will be a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder diesel with 161 bhp / 380 Nm on tap.

Jaguar will showcase the XE at the Paris Motor Show in October, where details of its full range will be announced. The car will be put on sale in 2015. The indicative pricing for the XE range starts at GBP 27,000.