Jaguar hybrid

The big cat is facing a green onslaught from BMW and Audi. As the German brands roll out stop-start, brake regeneration and other eco hardware, the British company is getting left behind.

There are no specific green models in the Jaguar range, so for now it relies on its diesel models to deliver low emissions.

The 3.0-litre V6 oil-burner in the XF puts out 179g/km – and to be fair, that’s only slightly more than its BMW 530d rival, as the German firm doesn’t offer stop-start on its six-cylinder cars. The imminent new XJ luxury model has the advantage of a lightweight aluminium construction.

With the 3.0 V6 diesel, it promises figures of 184g/km and 40.1mpg – nearly a match for the BMW 740d. Jaguar’s future looks much greener, as it’s working on a hybrid powerplant as part of the Limo Green initiative, which also involves UK specialists Lotus and Caparo.

However, the cost of taking this complex project to its fruition, and introducing an eco production car, means it won’t arrive any time soon.

In the meantime, bosses are set to benefit from sister firm Land Rover’s stop-start tech, as engineers ready a variation of the set-up from the Freelander which works on automatic cars.

And while eco-conscious buyers wait for this to be launched, they can take part in a carbon offset scheme Jaguar has set up with environmental expert ClimateCare (see jpmorganclimatecare.com).

BEST ECO BUY: New XJ