The Jaguar XF-R has doffed a little more of its mask, and now we can clearly see the copious amounts of black mesh that will fill in the front air dam's side vents, replacing the aluminum strips there now. Otherwise, and as usual, you'll need to know your Jags in order to tell this R apart from its lesser siblings. In addition to the mesh the mesh, the hood vents, rear deck spoiler, and quad pipes are the giveaways. Otherwise, the car will get 20-inch wheels of a different design than the ones found on the XF Supercharged. And speaking of that other blown cat, the supercharged 5.0-liter lump that will power the XF-R will be up 80 hp up on the "regular" blown XF; in addition to a faster 0-to-60 time, we imagine there'll be increased sound and the fury to go along with it.


The Jaguar XF-R is almost complete, and the house of the saltant feline looks to retain its suite of exceptionally modest modifications for the hottest version of its hottest seller. Outside, the car gets hood vents and larger intakes for better breathing, and a sliver of a trunk spoiler hovering over quad tailpipes out back. Larger wheels wearing lower profile rubber hanging off of a seriously firm suspension will be on the menu, all the better to harness the signature trait of an R car: the 500-horsepower supercharged V8 up front. We'll see it some time next year, our bet is at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

Hello Kitty, we've been expecting you. According to Auto Express, what you see here is slated to hit showrooms in 2010 and will go up against such luxury and performance stalwarts as the Mercedes-Benz C Class Coupe, BMW's 3 Series Coupe and the Audi A5. It's definitely got the looks to compete on equal footing, with the trendy high belt-line and minimal glass surface area. Where the XF sedan features slinky lines, this XF bulges in an exaggerated show of power, making the new Coupe a much more aggressive design overall.
Jaguar's latest leaper is also expected to showcase the automaker's newest V8 engine, now displacing 5.0L and generating 500 supercharged horses. This engine will also make an appearance in the XFR and allow Jaguar to offer a British alternative to the BMW M cars, MB AMGs and Audi Rs, not to mention the latest Cadillac CTS V-Series, which is soon to lose two of its doors, as well. We don't know when and where this car will debut, but UK pricing is expected to be about £35,000 (about $53K in US dollars).

Auto sales are tough around the globe and production cuts are occurring on a regular basis. Jaguar is planning to slow production at its Castle Bromwich plant by the end of the month in response to slow global sales. The XJ and XK output will be slashed due to a lack of demand. The production cut comes a month after Jaguar's Tata-owned stablemate, Land Rover, cut its Soilhill facility to a four-day work-week in response to slow sales. One bright spot for Jaguar is that UK sales are up a substantial 12%, due mostly to the hot-selling XF sedan. Although Tata has seen some success with the XF, the Indian automaker's reign over the British luxury marquees so far has been less than spectacular. Ford, on the other hand, has two less problem brands on its hands.



