What's the news?
Although it's not quite at Volvo XC90 levels yet, Jaguar's campaign for the forthcoming XE saloon sees new snippets of information being regularly released. And the latest is that the smallest Cat will have an 'aluminium-intensive' monocoque, with 75 per cent of its structure made up of the lightweight metal.
The XE will follow in the tyre treads of the XJ, XK and F-Type models, all of which use stiff-bonded and riveted aluminium structures. Jaguar not only claims this will make the XE the 'true driver's car' in the segment, but it is also claiming some astonishing economy and emissions figures - in excess of 75mpg and less than 100g/km CO2 are being bandied about.
Further benefits over a predominantly steel body are increased torsional stiffness and the incorporation of high-tech suspension systems, hopefully ensuring excellent ride quality, handling and steering. The XE also uses a new grade of high-strength aluminium called RC 5754, which uses plenty of recycled material as a contribution to Jaguar's goal of ensuring 75 per cent of the materials it uses is recycled by 2020.
The XE will make its world debut in London on September 8, so for now the last word is from Dr Mark White, Jaguar's chief technical specialist, body complete, who says: "The Jaguar XE body uses over 75 per cent aluminium content, which far exceeds any other car in its class. This gives us a body structure with unrivalled low weight: it's light but also immensely strong with extremely high levels of torsional stiffness. We've made sure our aluminium-intensive body structure exceeds all global safety standards without compromising on vehicle design or refinement."
Anything else?
You can watch a short video on YouTube about the Jag's aluminium structure below:
Matt Robinson - 30 Jul 2014
