A FANTASY WIN FOR JAGUAR

The winner of this year’s ZF Fantasy Camp by Autoweek is…. the 2012 Jaguar XF Supercharged. “It may not be the Oscars, but anytime car enthusiasts identify your car as best‑in‑class, it’s worth noting,” writes Stuart Schorr, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, Jaguar Land Rover North America.

Twenty ultra‑passionate Autoweek readers recently got to judge a dozen of the very latest luxury sedans, many with a not surprising German accent, all with base prices under $70,000, during a day of hard driving at a Dearborn test‑track.

It was a pretty formidable list of contenders including the BMW 550i xDrive, the Mercedes‑Benz E550 4MATIC, the Audi A7 3.0, the Audi A6 3.0, and the Cadillac CTS‑V.

But in the words of the guys at Autoweek, the one car that “had the rest of the pack licked,” was the 2012 Jaguar XF Supercharged. As you can imagine, we went out and bought a few copies of the magazine.

The story is out in the latest June 25 issue, and online at www.Autoweek.com. The last paragraph of the piece reads: “Germans took the win overall the last two years, but that streak ends with the Jaguar XF Supercharged’s decisive victory over the Cadillac CTS‑V and the BMW 550i xDrive. Congrats to the Jaguar.”

“Well Thank You Very Much.”

The Jaguar XF Supercharged is a sleeper in this category. While the XF line‑up was introduced in the U.S. in 2008, it has seen constant and continuous upgrades and improvements, including a design update for the tested model year. In fact, in the 2012 J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study (IQS) Jaguar ranked second in a tie among nameplates in the U.S. Automotive Industry. Jaguar was also the most improved brand in the survey.

The white 2012 Jaguar XF Supercharged the Autoweek readers tested features our latest 470‑horsepower 5.0‑liter supercharged V8 and six‑speed ZF automatic transmission. It also has the latest design features we introduced for 2012 ‑ new grille, hood and front fenders, those cool HID xenon headlamps with LED running lights, new LED tail lamps, and an upgraded interior with redesigned seats and new instrument panel.

And we are continuing to invest in the Jaguar XF line. Just last week we announced a number of key powertrain changes for our entire Jaguar model line‑up for 2013.

For the Jaguar XF, that includes the addition of a brand new 340‑horsepower supercharged 3.0‑liter V‑6, and a new 240‑horsepower turbocharged 2.0‑liter I‑4. All 2013 Jaguar XFs will feature a new ZF eight‑speed automatic.

Of course, horsepower junkies will still be able to get a 470hp XF Supercharged V8, or the 510‑hp supercharged V8 in the benchmark XFR.

We’re hoping that more luxury car customers do their own Fantasy Camp test drives and include our Jaguar XF. In the meantime, we’re very happy to be reveling in this victory.