EREV Jaguar XJ Coming

Fisker scaring you, Jaguar? After receiving a £340 million loan (Around $450 million at current exchange rates) from the European Central Bank (EIB), it looks like Jaguar is moving quickly to show it's putting the money to good use.

The loan was given to Jaguar-Land Rover to speed up by the European Central Bank to speed up investment and production of green technologies. Jaguar must have been working on the EREV Jaguar XJ ahead of time and showed it to the EIB in order to garner the necessary funds to produce it. Otherwise, 2011 is an very quick time frame to see this hit production.

In the high-ende luxury market, the electrified Jaguar XJ would go head to head with the Fisker Karma. Who would have thought? An established luxury marque like Jaguar working to compete against an upstart competitor. Certainly interesting times we live in.

The difference though is in range; while the Karma has a 50-mile electric-only range, a potential Jaguar XJ model would only achieve 30 miles. That's a pretty significant difference in comparison. It's likely that they'll be priced similarly as well.

The electrified powertrain would help the Jaguar XJ achieve fuel economy of 57 mpg (47 mpg U.S). It's great to see companies moving at such speed (with government help) in the new electric car race.

The Volt, Karma and this rumored EREV Jaguar XF all will offer a similar set of specifications, at varying price points. I think the interesting point in all of this is who started it; Chevrolet did with the Volt. The idea that seemed (and in practice will be) revolutionary at the time is now being copied by a lot of different manufacturers.

The Volt started this latest electric car race and I think it deserves the credit for that. With this new loan, the total is up to £800 million (Over $1 billion at current exchange rates) in green investments made by the EIB, the UK and others to produce green-car programs.

Jaguar is working with Lotus Engineering, Caparo and MIRA in creating the "Green Limo". The EREV Jaguar XJ should debut in 2011, a year after the standard XJ.