#Jaguar

Jaguar is getting ready to launch their F-Type, the long anticipated successor to the fabled E-Type of yore. If there ever was a car that was associated with the word “sexy” it’s the E-Type, first introduced at the Geneva auto show in 1961. The two-seater F-Type will get its debut next month at the Paris auto show and it looks like Jaguar is trying to sex up the launch by announcing that indie music and YouTube sensation Lana Del Rey will “collaborate” with the car company on that launch and be the F-Type’s public face.

Jaguar will finally offer all-wheel drive on their XF and XJ sedans – but only in one configuration, and where demand is highest.

Jaguar’s Castle Bromwich plant is going on a recruitment drive to add 1,100 jobs, as the plant prepares to produce the F-Type sports car and the holy grail of automotive-dom…the XF Sportbrake diesel!

The era of V8 hegemony is over at Jaguar; the current lineup, which offers no alternatives with fewer than 8 cylinders or 5.0L of displacement, will be getting two new engine offerings – including a 4-cylinder option.

Chery has asked the Chinese government for its blessing regarding a joint venture with Jaguar Land Rover worth $1.9 billion.

When Jaguar Land Rover announced plans to start hiring workers at their Halewood plant, the company received 6,000 applications in less than 24 hours. One month on, and Jaguar has received a further 29,000 applications.

Two new engines will be joining the Jaguar family, with at least one confirmed for the new F-Type sports car.

Among the various rumor-mongers in the automotive world, UK rag Auto Express has a pretty good track record of publishing “spy photo renderings” that look just like the real thing. So when they published some drawings and a video of the Jaguar F-Type, it was worth paying attention.

Wait, straight, unrusted XJ-Ss get crushed? Yes, indeed, I see solid examples of Jaguar’s V12 statusmobile at self-service junkyards all the time. This car listed at $39,700 when new ( nearly 80 grand in 2012 dollars), but couldn’t even fetch above scrap value at an auction today.

At 7 years old, the XK isn’t a kitten anymore – but with a rumored 3 years until the next redesign, what’s a luxury marque to do? Make special editions, of course. On the surface, the XKR-S looks like a baby-boomer dressed like a teenager, or as the Brits put it: mutton dressed as lamb.

Just when it seemed like the Geneva Auto Show was going to be the automotive equivalent of a Christian Audigier trade show, Jaguar comes out with the XF Sportbrake, something that looks good and has a practical use.

There is nothing wrong with updating the logo of a car company once in a while. At Volkswagen, we did it about once every twelve years, to the joy and enrichment of corporate design houses and makers of backlit signage. But did you ever notice that the Volkswagen logo changed? You are not supposed to. The holy grail of logo updating is doing it while the world remains oblivious and thinks it’s the old one.

Jaguar blew that bigtime, says the branding blog BRAND NEW. Boy, did that logo update ever get noticed.

Diesel, manual wagon – pick two. Jaguar just missed the Holy Trinity by offering their new XF Sportbrake with two diesel engines; a 2.2L 4-cylinder or a 3.0L V6 coupled to an 8-speed automatic gearbox. The Sportbrake only weighs 150 lbs more than the XF sedan.

TTAC readers, especially those in the United States may profess their undying love for station wagons, but their pleas tend to fall on deaf ears. Not so for European Jaguar dealers – their requests for a station wagon version of the XF will be fulfilled shortly.

How do you say “grace, pace and space” in Mandarin? Jaguar Land Rover is apparently partnering with Chinese automaker Chery to build cars in China. While an announcement wont come until April’s Beijing Auto Show, the two companies have applied for permission from China’s regulators.