Europe’s automotive engineering magazine www.ae-plus.com June 2015 Target setting The new architecture that will help Jaguar compete in the D-segment Suzuki refines its SUV for the road> Delphi's challenge in China AE.Cover_June_Final.indd 1 22/05/2015 11:33 Jaguar XE DEVELOPMENT Modern architecture Designing an executive sedan from the ground up has allowed engineers to improve ride and handling, emissions and connectivity. The D-segment is now a lot more competitive By James Scoltock hen Jaguar's engineers starting from a blank sheet of paper, began developing the XE but this is what the XE's development executive sedan in 2010, team were given. the focus was on competing The result was a completely new Wwith, and bettering, the vehicles that architecture that gave engineers the were already in the market. freedom to pick and choose the The BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz technologies that would allow the XE to C-Class and Audi A4 have dominated be competitive. the D-segment for many years – look on The XE's vehicle programme director, any road across Europe and there is Nick Miller, says: “The idea behind sure to be a vehicle with one of the wanting to come into this market three marques' badges on the hood in segment was a key driver for the close proximity. So in order to achieve architecture. We knew that to make a its goals, Jaguar needed to adopt a new compelling proposition we had to have approach. certain attributes, so we had to come up It's rare that engineers get to work on with something new.” a vehicle that has no predecessor, At the core of the XE is Jaguar's new June 2015 | Automotive Engineer | 17 DEVELOPMENT Jaguar XE aluminium-intensive architecture – an The key target for the development architecture that will be used in future team was to bring carbon emissions vehicles too – helping the body shell to down below 100g/km. weigh 251kg. The vehicle as a whole “We knew very quickly that, with the weighs from 1,474kg. pressures on emissions, putting V8s Aluminium content stands at more and V6s in wasn't going to be the right than 75% with steel added to the mix, answer, so an I4-centric architecture and Jaguar has developed new alloys, was very quickly one of the elements including RC5754, during the car's we fixed down,” says Miller. INFOTAINMENT development. Apart from a small As well as a new body-in-white Efficiency gains: The 2-litre unnoticed. Both BMW and Mercedes push the adoption of safety diesel decreases friction by amount of new metal that is needed to structure, Jaguar has also developed have developed powertrains that will technologies, and this had a big impact 17% compared with the Anish Kotecha get to the correct grade, RC5754 can be the first of its Ingenium family of older 2.2-litre unit push CO2 emissions below 99g/km, and on the XE programme. produced almost entirely from recycled engines. The 120kW/380Nm four- Audi isn't far from bringing the The sedan has a pop-up hood to Infotainment engineer raw material. cylinder diesel unit uses both low- next-generation A4 to market, so will increase the distance between it and “The material mix comes about pressure and high-pressure exhaust surely match that figure. the engine, helping to meet pedestrian “The InControl system is our first updatable platform. because of various reasons. Weight gas recirculation (EGR) with thermal But Jaguar can take it further – the safety requirements. The pyrotechnic We wanted to deliver more tools, more features and distribution, with the engine at the efficiency of over 40% to help the XE firm has a lot of experience with system uses a piston in the hinge area. more personalisation, which I think is key. front and rear-wheel drive, putting the emit only 99g/km CO2 when mated to a electrification and it's an avenue that Engineers also introduced a stereo “The infotainment system comprises an eight-inch steel low down at the back, allows us to six-speed manual transmission. Miller says they could take in the camera to the vehicle to enable capacitive touchscreen and allows for gesture get a 50:50 balance with an I4 engine,” (Emissions rise to 104g/km when the future. autonomous emergency braking. control. You can swipe between screens, it gives says Miller. engine is linked to the ZF-supplied “We've got that portfolio of “Just having that technology allows faster response and has an embedded navigation The architecture has been developed eight-speed automatic.) technology to draw on in the future,” you to deploy all sorts of ADAS features system. The InControl apps enable you to use your with four-cylinder engines in mind, A selective catalytic reduction (SCR) he says. “We've just at this point in time going forward that we are working on smartphone inside the car and use some of your although there is the bandwidth system has been integrated to cope a super-efficient diesel engine and will feed in as Euro NCAP guidance favourite apps on the vehicle's touchscreen. available to house vee engines too. The with NOx emissions. delivering 99g/km which is a great changes in the future,” says Miller. “It was launched last June and there are a wide most powerful variant of the XE at the “Defining the weight of the car, the place to be in this market segment. It Meeting safety criteria in North variety of apps available. The key thing for us is moment uses a 3-litre V6 gasoline unit characteristics of the powertrain and doesn't mean that it'll be the same America has meant that the body that this app is available to our customers free of that produces 250kW/450Nm. the aerodynamics are three of the key answer in five years' time, but at this structure will change slightly, mainly charge, and then we work with all of these Although it may be a riot to drive, enablers to delivering that 99g/km, and point it was the right answer.” due to side-impact requirements, but different app developers to make more apps especially on the meandering mountain very early on those were cast in stone The pressure to reduce emissions is Miller is relaxed as he says the compatible for in-car use. roads of northern Spain where the and we had to deliver them,” says Miller. huge, but so too is the need to improve architecture has been designed in such “The platform is owned by Bosch, but we're first to vehicle was launched, the CO2 Jaguar's decision to push emissions as safety. Bodies such as Euro NCAP and a way that it has the flexibility to meet market with that platform and we'd encourage other emissions of 194g/km are too high low as possible to gain an edge over its the National Highway Traffic Safety differing and ever-changing demands. OEMs to take it, encourage app developers to for most. rivals in the segment didn't go Administration of the US have helped to The need to be adaptable is shown integrate our software development kit, so the apps are available for use by other OEMs. “What we want to do is keep the apps DNA, so the way they look on your phone is how they look on the POWERTRAIN touchscreen, to keep the familiarity. “Everything is run off the phone which means that Paul Whitwood than the outgoing engine – the 2.2-litre – system. We pipe in both low-pressure and this is updatable whenever we like. Whenever we want Chief engineer for which is a real enabler for 99g/km CO2. high-pressure EGR. In an ideal world you to add new features or new apps all we have to do is engine programmes “We've maximised both peak engine would want to put in just low-pressure EGR send an update to your phone, and you download your performance and peak torque, but protected because it's clean, taking the EGR from app just like you would with anything else. “Efficiency means delivering lower friction and transient performance and low-speed torque. downstream of the diesel particulate filter so “The InControl remote gives you the ability to optimal combustion. So where we would That's really important to make the car drive. we can cool that gas much more. The problem control the vehicle from your smartphone anywhere normally have plain bearings in areas such as “We use a variable geometry nozzle turbo with cooling dirty exhaust gas is that it's full of in the world. It allows you to check on the car's status, the camshafts and balancer shafts, we have on the compressor side, to optimise the pollutants and then you start to get gumming for example its location. I can beep and flash the needle roller bearings. We also avoid pumping energy recovery from the exhaust and boost and contamination problems. The high- headlights to find the car and unlock it quicker. We oil or coolant around the engine unless we available pressure. That's important not only pressure system takes EGR straight out of the also have the ability for remote engine start, to have to, so both coolant and oil pumps are for peak performance but also this transient exhaust manifold. The problem with that is pre-heat or cool the cabin to a set temperature.” variable control devices. We're only going to stepping of the throttle and getting the that you can't cool that EGR gas as effectively.