XJ220 was last mid-engined Jag
Jaguar is planning a mid-engined flagship that will be the marque's first new sportscar under the ownership of Tata Motors. According to Auto Express, the new supercar will probably be called the XE, and will make its debut as a concept at some point in 2010.
It will likely be powered by a tuned version of Jag's supercharged 503bhp 5.0-litre V8, seen recently in the XF-R. The news comes as the car's most likely mid-engined V8 competitor, the Audi R8, gets ready to up the ante by moving to V10 power.
This is only the fourth time that Jaguar has thought about using a mid-engined layout. The first time it was considered was with the XJ13 concept from the late 60s, which looked great but never made it to production.
Jaguar didn't produce a mid-engined sportscar until 1990 with the XJR-15. Just 50 examples were made of this V12 monster, which was based on the Le Mans winning XJR-9 racing car of 1988.
The company's most recent attempt at putting the engine in the middle was in the XJ220, the 1991 supercar that dominated bedroom walls throughout its short life (and long after).
Since then Jag has kept the engine in the traditional place for GTs, but as in the past, when Jaguar wants to make a supercar it knows where to stick the engine.
You may recall that in the middle of last year we heard about plans for a stylish GT to be called the F-type, but this new car now looks set to beat it into production, possibly hitting the shelves in just 12 months time.
We're taking this as Jaguar's tacit prediction of when the recession will end...