JAGUAR SHOWS OFF XF SPORTBRAKE BEFORE GENEVA

The new Jaguar XF Sportbrake is really a station wagon version of the beautiful Jaguar XF sedan. It is being prepared for full public consumption at the 2012 Geneva International Motor Show. Wagons are generally more popular in Europe than they are in other continents, so a Mzansi introduction is, while entirely possible, highly unlikely.

Jaguar is keen to emphasise that the XF Sportbrake can closely match its sedan sibling when it comes to handling, despite an almost 70kg weight penalty. And on the plus side, it offers much more usable space, with a 1675 litre boot (with rear seats folded flat) and an extra 48 mm of rear headroom.

The car expectedly shares some of its engines with the sedan, including the 2.2-litre and the 3.0-litre turbo diesels. For the moment though, no one is talking about an XF R Sportbrake with 375kW of supercharged 5.0-litre V8. But considering that main competitors like the Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG and Audi RS 6 also offer wagon variants, Jaguar might just invite itself to that party.