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Next Jaguar F-Type rumored to get BMW M-sourced 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8

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Unless we’re discussing the

Porsche 911

or

Chevrolet Corvette

, trying to predict the future of any

sports car

out there would stump even Miss Cleo. Reportage takes a walking dead theme, as with the next-generation

Audi R8

. Or it delves a succession of intel from “reliable sources” on every possibility, each one wilder than and incompatible with the last. The newest turn in the

rumor

cycle for the next-gen

Jaguar F-Type

says

Jaguar’s

coupe will be fitted with a

BMW

-sourced 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8.

The gossip comes courtesy of Georg Kacher writing in

Car

magazine. It closes the loop Kacher opened in 2016 when, writing in

Automobile

, he said

BMW was hammering out a deal

to provide V8 engines for the top-end

Jaguar

and

Land Rover

products. The deal would put more money in

BMW’s

pockets for an engine that’s expensive to develop but doesn’t sell in large numbers, while weaning Jaguar off the thunderous and thirsty

Ford

-sourced 5.0-liter supercharged V8.

We haven’t heard anything else about that deal in the meantime. Since Kacher says the next F-Type will come in 2020, it seems the coupe would be the first car in the JLR range to get BMW power — specifically,

BMW M

Power. The 4.4-liter V8 codenamed S63 by BMW, but supposedly codenamed Project Jennifer inside JLR, makes 560 hp in standard form, or 625 hp in the M division’s Competition vehicles. The current F-Type R Coupe puts out 550 hp, the SVR Coupe puts out 575 hp.

However, the cloud of F-Type rumors is wide and nebulous. The head of JLR North America said last year that every product launched after 2020

will have some form of electrification

, and we haven’t heard of any

hybrid

plans for the 4.4-liter S63 V8. The next

BMW M3

is said to get some sort of

hybridization, but that sedan

uses an inline-six.

When

Road & Track spoke to Jaguar design head Ian Callum

earlier this month at the

Paris Motor Show

, the mag asked about a hybrid F-Type. Callum said electrification “is not necessarily the plan,” adding, “There’s not a plan, to be honest with you.” He said what he’d like to do is “a mid-engine-style

electric car

.” When

Auto Express

reported on Callum’s wish, the mag called the product “a hybrid mid-engine

supercar

” with “

dreams of taking on the McLaren 570S and Audi R8

,” using a V6 engine and powertrain components from the

I-Pace

. As a pure electric or a

hybrid vehicle

, this could be a way to get a

C-X75

-inspired sports car on the road, but it’s not an F-Type replacement in either soul or price. Callum ended his comments to RT with, “For the F-Type replacement, we have various projects going on. Experiments.” Seeing that it’s almost 2019, that doesn’t sound like the drivetrain’s been sorted, nor that we’ll see the next F-Type in 2020.

Kacher says the mid-engined supercar would be another model line, not the F-Type. But he also says “Jag is believed to be shoehorning in (very) occasional rear seats to the next generation,” to get the attention of

Porsche 911

buyers. Since Jaguar is also rumored to be

working on a new XK grand tourer

, it will be interesting to see how they’d create space between that and a larger, roomier 2+2 F-Type. If anyone is getting clearer signals from their crystal balls, please let us know.

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