Jaguar Roadster Confirmed – Jaguar XE? Jaguar C-Type? Jaguar F-Type?

The Jaguar Roadster is on its way

It’s now confirmed that Jaguar are working on a new Jaguar Roadster, likely to compete with lower end Porsches and top-end Audi TTs. Expect it by 2012.

We have known for quite some time that Jaguar are working on a Roadster. Especially since it’s claimed to be a project close to the heart of Ratan Tata – ultimately, ‘Mr Jaguar’. But we now have the clearest indication possible after Carl-Peter Forster – Tata Motors Group Boss –  confirmed this week that Jaguar are working on a Jaguar Roadster, as well as considering a BMW 3 Series competitor.

The 3 Series competitor makes sense, although Jaguar are still smarting from the sorry tale of the Jaguar X-Type which, although a far from poor car, was tainted with the ‘Mondeo in Drag’ tag which it never really shook off.

The Roadster is a different kettle of fish all together. Whether it’s a Roadster at the very top end or – much more likely – a Roadster to slot in below the XK, it doesn’t matter. The Roadster is at the heart of Jaguar’s DNA with such iconic cars as the XK120 and XK140, C-Type, D-Type and E-type in its past.

At this stage of Jaguar’s renaissance we are almost certain we’ll see a Jaguar Roadster built to take on the lower-end Porsches and the top-end Audi TTs. We’d expect to see a new range of V6 engines based on the AJ-V8 but with a cylinder lopped off each side to provide a potent – but economical – engine range for the Jaguar Roadster.

And what to call it? The headline at the top – and the picture above – throw in a few options. Jaguar C-Type and Jaguar F-Type don’t fit in with the current nomenclature and Jaguar XE is almost resurrecting the E-Type name, as that’s very close to the E-Type’s moniker in the USA – Jaguar XK-E.

Maybe Jaguar XR should enter the mix, and maybe even Jaguar R-Type. But whatever it’s going to be called we’re looking forward to it. And especially if Jaguar engineer it so that there’s room to stick in the full-fat AJ-V8 with S/C and 500bhp, and not just the V6.

That’d wake up the Germans. And the rest.