Jaguar to revive inline six — and plotting triple

Jaguar looks set to draw on its inline six-cylinder engine heritage as it investigates developing a broader range of next-generation Ingenium petrol and diesel powerplants.

Although the company's two current high-performance supercharged petrol engines are both V-configuration -- the 3.0-litre V6 and 5.0-litre V8 -- tightening emissions laws are forcing a rethink for all car-makers, and the Ingenium engine range is Jaguar Land Rover's way of meeting the challenge.

The company has already premiered its first Ingenium turbo-diesel inline four-cylinder engine in the new XE, with petrol four-pots still to come. But this is only the beginning of the story, Daniel Buckley, Jaguar's AJ200 powertrain programme manager told motoring.com.au at the XE media launch in Europe.

"I think what we can say is that Ingenium is a family of engines," said Buckley when asked if smaller three-cylinder and indeed larger six-cylinder engines could be offered.

"The Ingenium engine architecture has been designed around a 500cc or half-litre combustion chamber. It's a modular concept so there's scope for taking it up in cylinders and down in cylinders," he said.

"That’s part of the whole strategy."

It's been a successful policy for BMW, which currently employs inline three-, four- and six-cylinder inline engines based the same 500cc cylinder architecture.

Although Buckley declined to comment on specifics for the plan, Jaguar's Ingenium engine range chief engineer, Paul Witworth, previously revealed that Jaguar expects to launch a new Ingenium engine variant at least every six months.

Before any of these engine types break cover, however, Jaguar is still yet to deploy its four-cylinder turbo-petrol Ingenium engines.

As such Jaguar's brand-new XE mid-size luxury sedan is making do with Ford-sourced 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engines that were introduced in 2010. So how long until Jaguar releases its advanced Ingenium petrol engines?

Buckley wouldn't comment on timing, but motoring.com.au understands the clean and green petrol powerplants are a year away at least, and could launch in conjunction with the new Jaguar's new SUV, the F-PACE.

"All I can say is that we're working on petrol engines, and they're coming. But I can't say when."

And the reason for the delay? The Jaguar Land Rover group is simply flat-out at the moment.

"We've said we're developing petrol versions of Ingenium. I think as a business we are trying to do a lot both in terms of rolling new vehicles out, and engines as well. And I think we'd like to do everything at the same time, but we simply can't.

"There's a rollout that will happen and we'll share that with you when we can."

The first Ingenium inline engine to launch in Australia will be the four-cylinder 132kW/430Nm turbo-diesel unit, which consumes fuel at a rate of just 4.2L/100km.

It will arrive here in early September 2015 in the Jaguar XE, but clearly it's only the start of the Ingenium journey, which has the potential to deliver more than a few surprises.