According to a story in Car magazine the company plan follows in the footsteps of its German rivals by, basically, modularizing the recently-launched 2.0-liter four-cylinder gas and diesel engines into 3.0-liter straight-sixes, with multiple power outputs of each to power the middle and upper reaches of both the Jaguar and Land Rover ranges.
Such a development could be predicted after JLR invested $650-million on a plan to double the size of its spiffy new engine plant in the English Midlands, and also because of the age of its existing 5.0-liter V-8 and 3.0-liter V-6 diesel powerplants, the latter being a version of an engine co-produced with PSA that was introduced 12 years ago.
All will be turbocharged and use direct injection, with Car’s story suggesting that the gas engine will be available in neatly stratified 300-hp, 400-hp, and 500-hp versions and the diesel will come in 275-hp, 335-hp, and 400-hp iterations. That would cover everything from the more powerful variants of the Jaguar XE (seen in photo above) that currently uses a supercharged V-6 through to the top of the Range Rover family where V-8s now rule. Jaguar has a long history of producing buttery smooth and powerful straight-sixes, including those in the legendary E-type sports car and generations of the XJ6, but it has not had one since the ‘X300′ version of the XJ sedan was phased out in 1997.
The existing Ingenium engines are both lighter and more fuel efficient than the powerplants they replaced, with similar (or greater) gains to be safely anticipated for the new six-cylinder engines. Shared components will help to further reduce costs; both BMW and Mercedes now use modular engine architectures based around common cylinder sizes and Volvo is preparing a 1.5-liter three-cylinder derived from its latest 2.0-liter four. Volvo, at least, swears it’s not planning to double-up that three to get a new straight-six.
Of course, BMW also produces a 1.5-liter three-cylinder version of its gasoline engine for applications including more basic versions of the Mini, so don’t be surprised if a future development at JLR is the arrival of a smaller triple to help improve consumption figures in CO2-obsessed markets.
We’ve reached out to JLR for comment but have heard nothing back at the time of going to pixel.
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