Jaguar may be forced into making a front-wheel drive small car to meet the changing Euro emission norms. The current 2020 EU emission norms mandate manufacturers to have an average CO2 emission figure of 95g/km across its line-up and that is not an easy number to achieve without a small car with front wheel setup.
If Jaguar goes ahead with the plan, they will have their work cut out as the task of manufacturing a front-wheel drive small car is a herculean one, especially for a company with no experience in this regard. This is where the alliance with Tata Motors can come in handy for the British auto manufacturer. Tata’s expertise in manufacturing cost effective small cars will most likely be tapped by Jaguar if they intend to make the plan a sustainable reality.
The car will most likely be introduced towards the end of the decade in time to meet the new regulations. The launch of small car will be preceded by the 3 Series rivalling XS sedan by 2015 and the Q-Type SUV scheduled for 2016.
Jaguar had earlier introduced a more efficient 2.0-litre EcoBoost Engine to its XJ line up and it will be interesting to know if the emission norms had played a role in this decision. Also worth knowing will be weather this trend will be carried forward to any of the other models in the Jaguar Land Rover arsenal. Jaguar actually has another less expensive alternative – like Aston Martin’s Cygnet (Toyota iQ), the company can simply rebadge and sell one of the Tata cars (or any other small car for that matter) to bring down the overall fleet emission norms.
Source: worldcarfans
