Jaguar's new XF saloon could spawn the hottest ever R saloon model. That's the "read-between-the-lines" news from the UK marque's Head of Programmes, and XF project director, Mick Mohan.

Though tight-lipped at this week's launch of the XF Down Under, Mohan let enough slip to whet the appetite for an upcoming performance-topping R version of the new Jaguar.

Mohan made it clear that the current range-topping supercharged SV8 version of XF is not the new S-Type R. This is despite customer feedback that the car is fast enough to wear the badge.

Reading between the lines, he suggests when the R badge is applied, it'll be to an entirely new sort of animal.

"It's [the Type R] not here [at launch] because we decided to save the badge for another time. We'll be using it in the future, but I can't say when," Mohan told the Carsales Network this week.

"We got fed up, if we're honest with you, with the S-Type R, every time it was featured, being put back-to-back with the M5.

"The S-Type R was actually a fine car but it wasn't an M5. We never created it or engineered it to compete with the M5, but a lot of the press assumed it was and we lost the halo we wanted from it," Mohan said.

"We decided if that's the case, then we'll wait and see and save it [the R badge] for another day."

"It's interesting, because a lot of the feedback we've received on the SV8 is we should have put the R badge on it. We're very, very pleased with the way we've set the SV8 up -- it's a very, very quick car," Mohan revealed.

Mohan would not comment on whether the new R would take on the likes of the M5, Mercedes-Benz AMG saloons and Audi's upcoming RS6. When pushed he smiled and offered: "Wait and see…"

The Carsales Network can reveal however that other sources close to the Jaguar brand have confirmed the hottest XF will arrive Down Under in late 2009. Current thinking is the new performance icon for the Jaguar brand will sport a forced-induction 5.0-litre version of the current V8, perhaps also with direct fuel-injection. The target power output for the powerplant is a M5/63 AMG rivaling 370kW.

The pictures accompanying this story were shot by our master spy photographers at Carparazzi and show a test mule for the XF-R. The XF front end was grafted on an S-Type body, but the mechanicals are believed to be those of the high-performance XF variant, based on the four exhaust outlets. Further evidence that this was no ordinary Jag came with the four XK-R Jaguars accompanying the mule.

-- with Carparazzi

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