Jaguar Not Planning Turbocharged Performance Models

Apr. 06, 2014 1:30 PM ET by Jay Traugott Industry News / 65 Comments

It's all about supercharging (for now).

As the era of turbocharging continues, even brands like Ferrari will soon drop naturally aspirated engines. But what about Jaguar, a historic brand that's now going through a design and performance renaissance? Will it too go with turbocharging across the board? The answer, specifically for its high- performance models, is no. Jaguar's technical specialist for performance recently said that turbocharged cars "feel laggy, they feel (like they have) gob-fuls of torque."

"That's great for a certain type of car, but not for a sports car. The main thing you miss between a turbocharged engine and a supercharged engine is the torque. The nice thing about the torque you get with a supercharger is that it actually feels just like a naturally aspirated engine. You can maximize torque very naturally." True, supercharged engines aren't as efficient as their turbocharged counterparts. Jaguar, however, plans on sticking with supercharging for as long as possible. Will it ever switch to turbocharging one day out of a need to meet even stricter emissions regulations? "Never say never, you know – we may change, we may not," according to Jaguar.