Some unsurprising but welcome news arrives from the U.K. with a report that Jaguar Land Rover plans to build inline-six-cylinder variants of its new Ingenium engine family.
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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 motivate 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 Peugeot Citroën 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 the 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-Benz 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.
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We’ve reached out to JLR for comment but have heard nothing back at the time of going to pixel.
-from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com/jaguar-plans-new-straight-six-engines/
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