But, as one lady once said when she saw an old friend’s beautiful baby for the first time, “Now this is a baby!”

We’re talking about the new X-Type, the smallish new Jaguar performance sedan that has been aimed squarely at the portion of the luxury car market previously dominated by BMW’s 3-Series, the Mercedes’ C-Class and the Audi’s A-4.

The Germans have every reason to worry. Starting at $29,950, the X-Type is priced competitively against its Deutscher rivals and features full-time all-wheel drive, a 231-bhp V6 engine, a satellite navigation system and an incredibly stiff body shell. Jaguar has built it to appeal to a demographic that wants to enter the luxury car market in a sporty, high-performance automobile.

Only the Beginning

With the introduction of the X-Type, it seems that the Jaguar family is back on the prowl. After hiding for some years in the rain forest, wary of sleeker rivals, the automaker is starting to breed some fierce little kittens. The X-Type won’t be the last of them, by any means. Jaguar has already given the go-ahead for the F-Type, a full-tilt sports car designed to become the emotional (and performance) successor to the classic E-Type series.

The company plans to deliver 15 new or radically redesigned model lines and power trains by 2004. That ambition has made Jaguar one of the fastest-growing car companies in the world, both in terms of innovation and actual unit sales. The company expects to sell a record 100,000 autos worldwide this year, 45,000 in the United States alone.

While those figures are all-time highs for Jaguar, they come nowhere near the quantities produced by mass-market automakers. Even as its popularity soars, based on hi-tech engineering, design and performance, Jaguar remains exclusive, regal and proud.