Jaguar company insiders cited by Autocar are saying the British marque is working on a smaller, front-wheel drive model.
The main reason behind this decision is to meet 2020 EU emission regulations which will force each manufacturer to have an average CO2 range across its lineup of 95 g/km. This number will probably go down by late 2014 when EU will publish post-2020 targets. Some EU politicians are already lobbying for a target between 68 and 78 g/km of CO2.
For Jaguar it will be a huge task since such an investment would require developing an all-new steel architecture that will cost a lot of money and won’t bring significant profit margins. Expect this car to come out towards the end of the decade, after the 2015 XS and 2016 crossover.