A near-production-ready prototype of the Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake has been spied undergoing testing on the streets outside the Nurburgring circuit in Germany.
Black and white camouflage across the test car’s front bumper does little to disguise its ground-hugging lower lip and aggressively styled air intakes that are identical to those of its XFR-S sedan sibling.
Like the sedan, the Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake will feature the British brand’s 404kW/680Nm 5.0-litre supercharged V8 petrol engine and eight-speed automatic transmission.
The super station wagon is expected to come close to – if not match – the performance times of the XFR-S sedan, which sprints from 0-100km/h in a claimed 4.6 seconds and powers on to an electronically limited 300km/h top speed.
The XFR-S Sportbrake inherits its 20-inch alloys and specially developed Pirelli tyres from the sedan, and is also expected to benefit from a number of the suspension and chassis tweaks developed for the four-door, including revised spring rates and retuned adaptive dampers, and recalibrated active electronic differential and stability control settings.
The Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake is expected to debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September where it will officially announce itself as a challenger to the Audi RS6 Avant and Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Estate.
Jaguar Australia late last month confirmed it would offer 2.2-litre four-cylinder and 3.0-litre V6 diesel versions of the XF Sportbrake in Australia from early 2014.
The XFR-S sedan will arrive in Australia in the final quarter of this year and, though Jaguar is yet to officially confirm its existence, the XFR-S Sportbrake is likely to be available to local customers if demand exists.
