UK based luxury car maker, Jaguar, has revealed its new XE model, the lightest, stiffest and most aerodynamic Jaguar saloon ever built. The aluminium-intensive Jaguar XE is is the only car in the class to use an aluminium-intensive monocoque.

Aluminium has been used by  Jaguar as part of an effort to save weight and improve fuel efficiency of their vehicles. The company opted for a 6000-series alloy which is lighter than traditional steels as well as being extremely high in strength allowing the engineering team to minimise the gauge thickness of certain components to save additional weight. For example, the bodysides pressings are formed in one piece, and what would once have been 1.5mm gauge sheet has been reduced to just 1.1mm – with no loss of stiffness.

The new Jaguar XE features an aluminium monocoque to save weight

The new XE has been engineered to meet the most stringent legislative and consumer crash test requirements worldwide, including US and Euro NCAP. The deployable aluminium bonnet ensures high levels of pedestrian impact protection.

“The XE is as strong and light as it could possibly be thanks to exhaustive analysis and by bringing the latest engineering techniques to bear on its design. It has been challenging to accomplish but the XE’s structure is absolutely at the cutting edge of what is achievable today,” said Dr Mark White, Jaguar’s Chief Technical Specialist; Body Complete

Sustainability is a big part of Jaguar’s aluminium story. Recycling this highly valuable material delivers impressive savings in overall CO₂ emissions and the new XE is the first car in the world to use RC 5754 – an aluminium alloy made predominantly from recycled material. Future models will also use RC 5754 and this breakthrough will help Jaguar towards its goal of using 75 per cent recycled material by 2020.

“Jaguar’s position as the leading premium manufacturer of aluminium vehicles allowed us to develop a light, stiff body structure that is ground-breaking in its class. It enables the XE’s advanced chassis technologies to deliver an unprecedented balance of agility and levels of refinement previously found only in vehicles from the segments above,” said Kevin Stride, Vehicle Line Director, Jaguar XE.

The XE goes on sale in 2015, with the high-performance S model at the top of the range.

For more information about the body structure, we recommend this interesting interview with Dr Mark White available on the Automotive Engineer website.

Jaguar Land Rover won the 2014 Altair Enlighten Award for their approach to minimizing vehicle weight. Read more about their winning entry here.