The MG ZR has spawned a rally version, the ZS a touring car racer.  If that’s not enough, MG has even launched an assault on Le Mans this year with a purpose-built prototype racer.  The ZT also comes in a slick wagon body, and it should right on the tailgate of the Volvo V70 T5.

The MG lineup wouldn’t be complete without a roadster, and indeed there is the MGF.   The MGF has a midengine layout that should offer sharp handling.  Engines include a variable-valve timing 1.8 liter generating 145 ps.  One shortcoming is that despite the midengine design, the MGF isn’t as sharp-handling as its rivals like the Lotus Elise.  With a few more tweaks from its new engineers, particularly in the styling department, the car could yet emerge as one of today’s most popular roadsters.

JaguarX-Type

Jaguar, never quite as troubled as Rover, has enjoyed a resurgence ever since being taken over by the Ford Motor Company.  Uncle Henry has wisely left the Brits to design and engineer the cars, with the proviso that the cars do share major components like platforms and engine blocks, and some interior parts like switchgear with the blue-oval badged cars.  Ford’s expertise in manufacturing and quality assurance has greatly improved the reliability of the Leaping Cats.     

The latest assault by Jaguar on the luxury market is in the red-hot compact segment, currently inhabited by the likes of the BMW 3-series, Mercedes C-class, Audi A4 and Lexus IS sedans.  The X-type seems like the kind of vehicle that will carve its own niche.  The Audi looks cool and futuristic, while the 3, C-class and IS go for a bit of a bad boy image.   For its part, the X-type mines the Jaguar heritage for all it’s worth, looking very much like a smaller version of the XJ sedan. 

Underneath the X-type is, no surprise, a Ford chassis: it’s the Mondeo!  To rescue this car from the Mundane, er, Mondeo, Ford decided to endow the X-type with four-wheel drive, with rear-biased handling. The Mondeo chassis is no slouch and it’s an excellent starting point for the sharp handling combined with cosseting ride that we’d expect from a Jag.  Engineers have tweaked each chassis component to ensure that this car will behave like a Jaguar. 

Engines are also Mondeo based, with a 2.5 liter V6 as standard, with the 3.0 powerplant as optional. Both of these are Jaguar tuned, of course, and the 3.0’s  has already proven itself to be more than adequate in the S-type.  With a lighter chassis, expect the  

But then, mechanicals aren’t really the reason why you’d buy a Jag over a BMW, are they?  It’s the styling that’ll get you.  The X-type follows the traditional four-headlamp arrangement of previous sedans, particularly the XJ.  The lights though are much smaller and oval, to produce a more modern look.  The rectangular grille is again traditional Jag, leaving the S-type alone with its unique oval grille.  The rounded-off roofline though is similar to the S-type, as are the rounded taillights.  If the goal was to make this car look like a genuine Jag and not a Ford, then the designers have succeeded.

The current crop of the MGs are the ZR, ZS and ZT. However, in the near future, the company will launch a rear-wheel drive V8 challenger to BMW's M5.

After taking on the 5-series with the S-Type, now Jaguar wants to conquer the 3-series market with this--the four-wheel drive X-Type sedan.

Unlike the S-Type that did a retro look, the X-Type is more modern. In fact, the proportions and overall design look as if it were the XJ saloon and hit with a shrinking ray. Nonetheless, the X-Type's design has so much character that the upcoming XJ replacement will also take on the X-Type's look.

This is a risky move for Jaguar. Either they'll blow their image by introducing a £22,000 (1.54 million pesos) Jaguar or it double the sales of the company.

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