Jaguar XE Roadster WILL get 3.0 litre diesel

This Jaguar XE is running a 3.0 litre diesel lump

It’s reported that the new Jaguar small sports car – the Jaguar XE Roadster – will debut at Frankfurt. If it does, it will get the 3.0 litre diesel TDV6.

Earlier today we ran an update on the ongoing speculation on Jaguar’s small sports car, confirming that Jaguar will debut the Jaguar XE at Frankfurt in September. And now we can add to that by reporting that it WILL be getting the option of a 3.0 litre diesel lump when it goes on sale in 2012.

We’ve speculated for some time that Jaguar will add the very good 3.0 litre TDV6 from the XJ and XF to the range of engines on the XK. But so far they’ve resisted. But it certainly seems as though the XE will get the diesel lump if the spy photo above is anything to go by.

We ran the XE spy photo above a few weeks ago, since when we’ve had a little dig around to see what else we can discover about this particular mule. And we’ve now confirmed that it is running a 3.0 litre diesel lump under that long bonnet.

It is always possible that this mule is running an engine Jaguar has no intention of fitting to a production car. But that makes no sense at all. What does make sense is that the 3.0 litre TDV6 will, very sensibly, be offered as an engine option in the 2012 XE.

Whether Jaguar will choose to give the TDV6 a little more oomph in the XE we don’t know. We do know the 3.0 litre TDV6 can be pushed over 300bhp without any problems – and beyond 500lb/ft of torque – so there’s certainly room for some very serious performance from a Jaguar XE Diesel – 5 seconds 0-60mph would certainly be on the cards.

Of course, when we got this information in and confirmation the XE mule is running the 3.0 litre diesel we told Jaguar what we knew, and asked Jaguar what they could tell us. They said:

As always, I wouldn’t believe everything you read… a great deal of speculation surrounding a new small Jaguar…at present, they are exactly that – speculation.
Jaguar has exciting plans for the future, the next stage of which will be unveiled around the time of the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

That clears that up, then.