The 2016 Jaguar XE won’t arrive in showrooms for some time, but the British carmaker decided to bait denizens of the Internet with an unusual tease.
Jaguar released a photo of a prototype XE with transparent bodywork. While this doesn’t entirely give away the car’s styling, it does reveal a lot more than the typical teaser image.
Classic long-hood, short-rear deck proportions are apparent, as are a bulging hood and roofline that seem to be taken from the larger XF sedan. The headlights and grille shape look very XF as well.
Based on this image and the rendering Jag released when it officially announced the XE back in March, expect this new model to look like a compact version of Jaguar’s larger sedans.
That also makes sense given the car’s mission as a BMW 3 Series fighter. Hopefully it will fair better than Jag’s last small luxury sedan, the Ford Mondeo-based X-Type.
In addition to sleek styling, the XE will feature a new line of 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engines called Ingenium. These are likely Jaguar’s answer to Volvo’s Drive-E engines and the small, turbocharged engines offered by other luxury carmakers.
Expect the XE to be available with both rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive, and to possibly offer the 3.0-liter V6 from the XF as a more-upscale option.
Underpinning all of this will be an aluminum-intensive platform previewed by the C-X17 crossover concept. The production version of the C-X17 will probably have a lot in common with the XE under the skin.
Full details, and a shot of the act without the X-ray treatment, will have to wait until the XE’s official debut, though.
