Cars Blog

Jaguar keeps its hands busy with the development of the new XJ saloon which is set to be released by the third quarter of 2010. The sales of the current XJ version are not as impressive as its competition from the 7 series of BMW and the S-Class of Mercedes Benz. Jaguar learned that looking in the past for design inspiration is a big mistake and they will not be making the same error again.

Jaguar designers wants to build new cats that are ready to pounce with more aggression. According to an insider, they are looking at deriving the lines of the new XJ from the XF. Aside from the look upgrade, the XJ will also get a work up with new engine features.

The car manufacturer is planning to launch a hybrid XJ by 2011 or a year after the new XJ saloon hits dealerships. The plug-in XJ will utilize the power from lithium ion battery packs combined with a combustion engine primarily used to back up the batteries.

All the plans can be executed, thanks to a loan amounting to £307 million from an investment bank. Jaguar is planning to collaborate with Land Rover to develop hybrid technologies which can be used for their next range of cars.

The platform Jaguar plans to use is a lot more similar to the one used by the Chevrolet Volt. Land Rover will be looking into engines similar to the Prius’ which makes use of both the combustion engine and the electric powertrain to drive the wheels.

The chief engineer of Jaguar commented those hybrids systems like the one used by Lexus are inefficient. Jaguar wants the main power of the car coming from the more efficient electric motor rather than the internal combustion engine. The engineers want to run the wheels using the more efficient source of power present in the system.

Jaguar is also developing stop and start systems, and energy recovery from brake technologies.

Related blogs: Jaguar Blog and Lexus Car Talk!