2018 Jaguar E-Pace First Look Reveals One Shrink-Wrapped SUV
Jag’s small crossover will arrive early next year, starting well under $40,000.
JLR has given us our first look at—and more importantly, our first real burst of information about— its upcoming compact crossover, the Jaguar E-Pace. If your eyes just glazed over at that sentence, well, wipe 'em clean; if the phenomenal sales (by Jag standards, at least) of the carmaker's current SUV are anything to go by, the E-Pace will be responsible for subsidizing plenty of sweet SVO speed machines over the next few years.
One of the two pictures released by Jaguar shows the E-Pace below (and presumably, roughly to scale with) the electric I-Pace Concept and the production F-Pace. The new crossover looks distinctly stubbier than its siblings; indeed, the F-Pace—hardly a giant by SUV standards—looks like a Chevy Tahoe by comparison. While the side-view image doesn't show the new machine's face, it does reveal what appear to be headlights quite similar to those on the F-Type sports car, as well as a gaping air intake below the lamp.
The second picture reveals little extra, other than the fact that the new Jaguar crossover will indeed have a rear end. It largely resembles the bigger F-Pace crossover, apart from a few subtle differences—the taillamps lack the F-Type-esque bulges, and the rear fenders don't seem to jut as far from the body.
The real news lies in the press release, which Jaguar sent out in concert with the tasteful ass shot. The E-Pace will go on sale in early 2018, at a starting price of $38,600—an MSRP that slides in neatly between the $35,725 XE sedan and the $42,065 F-Pace. All-wheel-drive will be standard, as will gasoline engines from the carmaker's new Ingenium line of motors. That means the E-Pace will presumably have the 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four found elsewhere in the lineup; as the Ingenium lineup currently only consists of one gas-powered engine and the release specifically mentions "an all-Ingenium line-up of petrol engines" (note the plural), it may also serve as the launch platform for the brand's widely-expected inline six.
Luckily, we won't have to wait long to see the E-Pace in the flesh. Jaguar says the new crossover will make its formal debut on July 13th, presumably in the sort of extravagant fashion that JLR does so well.
