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Jaguar considering lightweight F-Type Club Sport?

In the market for a Jaguar F-Type? Then let us commend you, first of all, on your good taste. But you've got a difficult decision ahead of you: Do you go for the power of the V8 or the lighter weight of the V6? It's a tough call, even if the ~$30k range in price from the entry model to the flagship doesn't phase you.
Well, to make the decision easier (or potentially more difficult), Jaguar is said to be looking into yet another tempting option: that of a lightweight Club Sport model. Tipped to be based on the coupe (and not the heavier roadster), the F-Type Club Sport would allegedly shed a good 400 pounds or so off the curb weight, not so much through the removal of one component or another but through a "holistic" approach that would call on all aspects of the car to play their part in ditching excess weight. That could mean everything from carbon-fiber body panels to a stripped-out interior denuded of sound-deadening materials and creature comforts, says Auto Express.
In developing the rumored F-Type Club Sport, Jaguar is apparently facing a similar dilemma to what buyers are pondering: will it base the track-focused model on the top-of-the-line F-Type R, with its 5.0-liter supercharged V8 driving 542 horsepower to the rear set of lighweight alloys but weighing down the schnoz? Or should it try to get more power out of the lighter 3.0-liter supercharged V6, which currently nets 340 hp in base form and 380 in S spec? Let Jag know what you'd do by leaving your thoughts in Comments.

Jaguar launches new classic racing series

One-make racing series have become all the rage for customers who want to actually race their exotic sports cars (or competition-spec versions of them, anyway). Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and Aston Martin all offer such programs, and Porsche supports several. Now Jaguar is getting in on the action as well, but instead of turning one of its production models - we're looking at you, F-Type - into a spec racer, it's launching an historic racing series instead.
The 2015 Jaguar Heritage Challenge will be open to cars made by the Leaping Cat marque before 1966, including the C-Type, D-Type, E-Type and Mk I and MkII sedans. The series, which builds on the success of the previous Jaguar E-Type Challenge, will be administered by the Historic Sports Car Club (HSCC) based at Silverstone and will include four races in the UK and one in Europe, with the exact schedule still to be determined.
The program was announced at the launch of the Jaguar Heritage Driving Experience, where Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations director John Edwards was also named chairman of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, replacing former Jaguar managing director Mike O'Driscoll who chaired the organization for the past five years.

New Jaguar crossover to be called 'XQ'?

As part of its upcoming portfolio expansion, Jaguar will be adding two key models to its lineup in the next few years. The first is a small, 3 Series-fighting sedan tentatively called XS, and the other is said to be a new crossover, which may be dubbed XQ, as Edmunds reports. Jaguar filed a trademark application for the name "XQ" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office earlier this year, according to the report.
Jaguar executives have long said that the company is investigating new, higher-volume segments for the brand to compete in, and this certainly isn't the first time we've heard rumors of a CUV with a pouncing cat badge. Edmunds opines that since the Land Rover brand will no doubt continue to tackle the more traditional SUV segments, the Jaguar brand could easily house an offering in the luxury crossover market.
As for how a Jaguar CUV could come to fruition, Edmunds offers two suggestions. The first would be to build a vehicle on the smaller platform that will underpin the XS, as it will accommodate both rear- and all-wheel-drive applications and will be used for a number of differently sized vehicles. The second, more logical suggestion, is that the Jag CUV will ride on a version of the all-aluminum D7u platform used in the Land Rover Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.