See through the Jaguar XE sedan ahead of Paris reveal

Jaguar's cool X-ray wrap makes for the first interesting teaser we've seen in years

 Jaguar 
The XE range of Jaguar compact sedans will be available in rear-wheel and all-wheel drive, to be powered by turbocharged four-cylinder engines. 

Jaguar has given the world a sneak peek at their upcoming XE sedan on Facebook and Twitter, four months before its debut at the Paris Motor Show at the end of September. The compact sedan is expected to take on the likes of the Mercedes-Benz C-class, Audi A4, and BMW 3-series, a segment that Jaguar has avoided since the demise of the less-than-loved X-Type. However, Jaguar realized long ago that it cannot survive exclusively on sales of its full-size luxury sedans and coupes, especially given the growth of the compact luxury sedan market.

The upcoming XE sedan is expected to feature an aluminum architecture and a family of engines dubbed Ingenium, which in this case denotes 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder powerplants that can be installed in transverse or inline configurations, depending on whether a given car is rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. We expect gasoline and diesel XE models will be offered, but it remains to be seen whether North America will receive the latter.

In terms of design, Jaguar hasn't exactly been keeping the exterior of the XE a secret; the world got a pretty good look at the front fascia of the XE around the time of the Geneva motor show in March. It features a family look lifted straight from the midsize XF sedan, with only its truncated tail raising a few eyebrows for when the time comes to pull out the measuring tape and compare trunk capacity.

The latest word is that the XE is expected to go on sale in a number of world markets in 2015, though North America will receive the car in 2016. Pricing is expected to be competitive with segment fixtures from the three German brands.