New Jaguar XJ with 2.0 litre EcoBoost engine launches

Jaguar has now launched an XJ with the 2.0 litre EcoBoost engine in the Indian market, offering the smallest engine ever fitted to a Jaguar XJ.

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There was a time, not too long ago, when any luxury car that didn’t have a nice big V8 petrol engine wasn’t worth considering.

But those times have changed, and the biggest seller for makers of luxury cars is a potent diesel unit that offers the sort of performance you’d have needed a petrol V8 for a few years ago, but with the sort of economy a V8 could only dream of.

That’s why Jaguar’s big seller in the XJ range – certainly in Europe – is the XJ 3.0 litre diesel, which offers a 0-60mph of just 6 seconds and real world economy nudging on 40mpg.

But not all car markets are fixated on diesel, so petrol engines are still a big seller outside Europe. But, for many countries, like India and China, the problem is that bigger petrol engines attract punitive taxes.

So Jaguar has taken the pragmatic view that the best route to sales for luxury cars in those markets is to do something that wouldn’t have been dreamt of until recently – launch an XJ with a 4-cylinder, 2.0 litre engine.

The new Jaguar XJ 2.0 litre i4 240PS has now launched in India and it is, to all intents and purposes, exactly the same XJ as the rest of the range, with the same trim options and luxuries as its more well-endowed siblings but with the 2.0 litre EcoBoost engine JLR use in the Evoque under the bonnet.

That means 237bhp from the turbo 4-pot, a o-62mph of 7.5 seconds and economy of around 30mpg on the combined cycle. The big difference is that it’s taxed at a much lower rate in India so it becomes more affordable for more car buyers, with prices expected to start for the 2.0 litre XJ at up to £20k lower than the current entry-level XJ.

Jaguar tell us that they have no plans to launch the new 2.0 litre XJ in the diesel-fixated UK market ant time soon.