Jaguar is getting ready to roll out a new five door hatchback model featuring lightweight alloy bodywork and new, direct-injection V6 petrol engines along with a host of other new models including the XE sports car and an XF estate. The car will be pitched into Jaguar XF price bands and will be competing strongly with Audi A5 Sportsback and Mercedes coupe saloon rivals. Basically the car is an evolution of the RD-6 concept from 2003 and is also said to feature Rolls-style 'suicide' rear doors and a side-hinged rear hatch.

“There’s a growing feeling with the R-D6 that we really had something very innovative, fresh and different,” said a source at Jaguar. “Maybe we missed something back then, but the idea is even more applicable now.”

The new model is code named as RD7 and will ride on a shortened version of the XF’s platform. The company is presently working on a smaller sports car based off the XK, and tight budgets mean that neither car can be “fast tracked” for production. Jaguar will also launch the new XE by 2011 but this latest hatchback model is not slated for a commercial launch before 2014.