Jaguar's revamped XF sedan slims down to boost fuel efficiency

LONDON -- Jaguar says its new XF sedan has taken a big leap in levels of refinement, low weight and fuel efficiency.

The UK luxury sports car brand today unveiled the second generation of its best-seller with a high-wire stunt drive across the Royal Dock in London’s Canary Wharf.

The XF competes against the BMW 5 series, Audi A6 and Mercedes-Benz E class. The redesigned model is underpinned by Jaguar Land Rover’s aluminum-intensive architecture.

The platform helped Jaguar to reduce the XF’s weight by nearly 420 pounds, the automaker said in a statement.

The latest XF is slightly shorter than the current model but its wheelbase is just over 2 inches longer to increase cabin space. The sedan has class-leading rear seat room, Jaguar said in a statement.

It will have a world debut next week at the New York Auto Show.

The XF is key to Jaguar achieving its goal of increasing annual global sales to more than 200,000 by the end of the decade from a little more than 80,000 last year.

"I believe the all-new XF will be the best-looking car in its class,” Jaguar design chief Ian Callum said in the statement.

The XF gets a new 10-inch touchscreen for the infotainment center, as well as configurable digital dials behind the steering wheel.

The sedan will go on sale in Europe in August and in the U.S. in the fall.

The all-new XE will be the first car to use JLR’s new lightweight platform, which is 75 percent aluminum, when it goes on sale in Europe in May. The XE will launch in the U.S. next year.

Station wagon versions of the XE and XF are likely. Jaguar will also build the F-Pace crossover on the aluminum platform starting next year.

Jaguar said it will release more technical details for the XF during its public debut at the New York auto show on April 1.

Jaguar sold 20,573 units of the XF in Europe last year, up 1.3 percent, according to market researchers at JATO Dynamics. The sedan ranked No. 6 by sales in Europe’s premium large segment.

U.S. sales of the XF fell 26 percent to 5,880 last year and were down 13 percent to 1,347 in the first two months.

The XF will be offered with JLR’s new four-cylinder, 2.0-liter Ingenium diesel engine with CO2 emissions of 104 grams per kilometer in the 163-hp version with a manual transmission.

Other engine choices in Europe will be a 180-hp version of the diesel engine and two Ford-sourced 3.0-liter V-6 gasoline engines, one of which will be supercharged to make 380 hp. A 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine likely will be added later. Transmission choices will be a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic, depending on the model.