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Jaguar’s owner, Tata Motors, which bought the company along with Land Rover from Ford Motor Co. two years ago, is planning on making the brand more mainstream by introducing lower-priced models.

The 2011 Jaguar XF (above) is the least expensive model currently available from the British carmaker. With a starting price of $52,150 for the 2011 Jaguar XF, owning a Jaguar is out of most people’s price ranges and keeps the company off of most luxury buyers’ radars. New owner Tata wants to change that by introducing three new cars, according to Autoweek.

The first is a new X-Type sedan that would compete with the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. A wagon version of the X-Type would follow to please buyers looking for more versatility with their luxury. The third new car will be a small sports car designed to compete with the Porsche Boxster.

Tata Motors knows something about building mainstream cars. The company is famous for building the Tata Nano, the world’s least expensive car, which is only sold in India.

According to Autoweek, the new Jaguar X-Type will likely go on sale in 2014.  The sports car, which could be named the XE, could be sold as early as 2012. The Jaguar XJ large car was redesigned this year, and the company is planning on redoing the XK for 2013 and the XF for 2014. An XF coupe may go on sale in 2013.

The Infiniti M35 hybrid will be revealed at the L.A. Auto Show in November and go on sale next year as a 2012 model. Infiniti claims that the M35 hybrid will have the power of a V8 with the gas mileage of a four-cylinder.

The Infiniti M35 hybrid will be the first hybrid car sold by Nissan to use in-house hybrid technology. The Nissan Altima hybrid, which has been on sale since 2007, uses Toyota hybrid technology mated to a Nissan engine.

The Japanese version of the Infiniti M35 hybrid was revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show last fall, according to Autoblog. The Japanese car, called the Nissan Fuga, will go on sale this fall.

The 2012 Infiniti M35 Hybrid will probably look very similar to the 2011 M37 shown here.

The M35 hybrid will use a 3.5-liter V6 engine combined with a 50-kilowatt electric motor. The Infiniti M35 hybrid will take advantage of Nissan’s recent with electric vehicles and use a battery pack similar to the one in the Nissan Leaf electric car.

The Infiniti M35 hybrid’s pricing will probably be the biggest factor in the car’s success. American buyers have shown that they are willing to pay more for hybrid cars like the Prius, but luxury buyers are typically more interested in comfort than making a statement with their vehicle. Infiniti could be successful with the M35 hybrid if the company can manage to keep the price close to the standard model, or even copy what Lincoln did in making the MKZ hybrid the same price as the V6 model.

The 2011 Buick Regal has been given a better rating by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety than the Lexus IS and Infiniti G37. The new Buick Regal was named a Top Safety Pick by the IIHS after receiving a “good” rating, the best possible, in the Institute’s front, side and rear crash tests and roof strength test.

The 2011 Lexus IS was not named a Top Safety Pick because it received an “acceptable” rating in the rear crash test. The 2011 Infiniti G37 received a “marginal” rating in the rear crash test, according to The Detroit Free Press.

The Acura TSX, which is also a competitor for the 2011 Buick Regal, has not yet been tested using the IIHS’ new roof strength test, but has received “good” ratings in all other tests.

GM says that the Buick Regal is designed to compete with Asian luxury cars, while the Cadillac CTS will compete with European ones.

The 2011 Buick Regal is already on sale, but only in the high-end CXL trim level. Buick plans to introduce a base model Regal next year for the 2012 model year. The 2011 Buick Regal CXL starts at $26,245, while a top-of-the-line Regal CXL with voice activated navigation, a sunroof and rear seat thorax air bags, costs $31,030.

The EPA is planning to change the window stickers found on new cars so that fuel economy ratings are easier to understand and compare. The new window stickers will include gas mileage ratings that consumers are familiar with, but will also give buyers more information to put those numbers into context.

The new gas mileage window sticker will be in effect on all 2012 model-year vehicles.

There are two proposed designs for the new stickers, and the EPA wants consumers to comment with their thoughts on the two. Both proposed new sticker designs will feature the typical city, highway and combined miles per gallon rating. The new gas mileage stickers will also tell consumers the amount of gallons consumed per 100 miles and the approximate yearly fuel cost for the vehicle. The fuel economy stickers will include a special code that can be scanned by a smart phone for even more information.

Both gas mileage sticker designs will also feature information on the amount of pollutants released by the car, which the EPA believes will help buyers make more ecologically oriented purchases.

The main difference between the two proposed stickers is that one will include a letter grade, between “A+” for electric vehicles and “D” for gas guzzlers. Opponents believe that the letter grades will bring up childhood memories of passing and failing. Proponents say that the letter grade system will allow consumers to make decisions more quickly, according to USA Today.

Take a look at the two stickers and let us know what you think of them in the comments section.

Images via USA Today.

The next Mazdaspeed3 could be powered by a diesel engine. Mazda is considering replacing the high-performance turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engine currently found in the Mazdaspeed3 with a diesel one in order to increase the car’s gas mileage.

Mazda recently unveiled its new Sky diesel engine and Robert Davis, Mazda USA senior VP of product development, said that the company was considering using the new diesel powerplant for the Mazdaspeed3. Davis said that the Mazdaspeed3 diesel would use a more powerful engine than the 190-hp one unveiled. He added that performance wouldn’t be degraded from the current gasoline-powered model in order to increase fuel economy, according to Left Lane News.

Car companies are scrambling to increase the fuel economy of their entire lineups in order to meet CAFE standards. CAFE will set a minimum average fuel economy rating for an entire brand of vehicles, so companies like Mazda that have several SUVs will use higher mileage ratings in small cars to offset the lower ones from their large vehicles.

Performance cars like the Mazdaspeed3 that don’t typically sell in large numbers like SUVs will need to increase their fuel economy ratings in the next few years, and switching to diesel engines is an easy way to do that without sacrificing performance.

The Suzuki Swift has been delayed, and may not be sold in the U.S. at all due to changes in exchange rates. Suzuki has delayed its planned launch of the Swift small car in the United States, and may not import it at all. Suzuki had planned to bring the Swift, which is available in Japan, to the U.S. in order to capitalize on the growing small car market. The rising strength of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar has forced Suzuki to reconsider importing the Swift altogether.

The Suzuki Swift subcompact was last sold in the United States in 2001. Since then, the car has been redesigned with more aggressive hatchback styling. Suzuki originally planned to bring the Swift to the U.S. this fall, but scrapped those plans after Volkswagen bought about 20 percent of the company, according to Autoweek.

Suzuki has now pushed the launch of the Swift to some time in 2011, but has not been more specific about the subcompact’s debut date.

Steve Younan, head of product development and business development at Suzuki, says that the Swift has been delayed only because of the yen’s rise against the dollar, not because of intervention by Volkswagen. A stronger yen means less profit for cars built in Japan and sold in America, which has already forced Suzuki to cut its marketing budget and could keep the Swift from ever being launched in the United States.

Image via Autoweek.

Nissan may discontinue the Xterra mid-size SUV. Slow sales and impending changes to the gas mileage laws in the United States are cited as the reasons behind the Xterra’s potential cancellation.

The mid-size, off-road SUV segment is collapsing and sales of the Xterra are low, according to Larry Dominique, Nissan’s vice president-advanced product and product planning and strategy. He added that the only truck doing well in the segment is the Jeep Wrangler.

Dominique said that Nissan officials love the Xterra and want to keep the off-road-ready SUV as long as possible. But slow sales and the need to meet CAFE standards may force the company to discontinue it, according to Ward’s Auto.

The new CAFE standards will set a minimum average gas mileage rating for every vehicle in a carmaker’s lineup. That will mean that fuel sippers like the Nissan Versa and Sentra will offset the gas guzzlers like the Titan, Armada and Pathfinder. That also means that slow-selling trucks like the Xterra will become a burden to the company, and will need to be canceled.

The Nissan Xterra’s slow sales could prove beneficial to buyers. Nissan has not officially canceled the Xterra, so expect the company to offer large incentives in the form of low interest rates and high cash back allowances in the coming months. Nissan has already said that the company is fond of the Xterra and doesn’t want to see it go, so if sales turn around thanks to incentives, the Xterra may survive.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., the Indian company behind the Mahindra small diesel-powered pickup, has issued a statement saying that it has terminated the agreement with its U.S. importer, Global Vehicles U.S.A. Inc. This could mean even more delays for the diesel small truck that was originally slated for release in the United States in mid-2009.

Global Vehicles has issued a statement claiming that the attempt to terminate the agreement between the companies is illegal. Global Vehicles says that it will fight Mahindra in court for the right to release the pickup in the U.S., according to Autoweek.

The legal fight could mean more serious delays for the small diesel pickup that is already a year late to the United States. A Mahindra dealer who spoke on condition of anonymity said that if Mahindra does terminate its agreement with Global Vehicles, it would need to create its own dealer network. Creating a new dealership network, even if it included all of the 300 to 350 dealerships that have signed on with Global Vehicles, would mean months of legal and financial review, according to the Mahindra dealer.

These delays come just days after the Mahindra diesel small truck was finally approved for sale in the U.S. by the EPA.

Image via Mahindra North America.

Hybrid cars have been criticized as dangerous to civilians because they are too quiet. At low speeds, most hybrids, including the Toyota Prius, typically operate on electric power alone, which makes very little noise. That can be dangerous in cities where pedestrians, particularly blind or seeing-impaired people, rely on audio cues to tell if a vehicle is nearby before crossing streets. Toyota has announced it will add a speaker to the Prius to alert pedestrians that the car is nearby and hopefully prevent accidents.

The 2011 Toyota Prius

The speaker system will go on sale August 30 in Japan for $148 and will mount under the hood of the current generation Prius models. The speakers will emit a whirring sound similar to that of a normal car engine. The speaker system is not required on any hybrid cars at the moment, and buyers who decide to buy the speaker system will pay extra for installation.

The U.S. government found that hybrids are twice as likely to be involved in an accident with a hybrid car as a normal gasoline-powered one, according to the Associated Press.

Toyota says that it is planning similar systems for the company’s other hybrid models, and that it is considering offering the speaker system for sale in the U.S. and other countries.

Honda has revealed details of the new Honda Fit hybrid. The Fit, which is sold as the Honda Jazz in Europe and Japan, will use the same drivetrain as the Honda CR-Z hybrid coupe.

The Honda Fit hybrid will likely get gas mileage very close to the CR-Z’s 35-mpg city and 39-mpg highway. That’s better than the gas-only Fit’s 28-mpg city and 35-mpg highway. Autoblog claims that the Fit hybrid will cost $4,700 more than the standard Fit. That’s a lot of money for four miles per gallon on the highway. If the Fit were sold in the U.S. with that much of a price hike, it would be more expensive than the Insight hybrid, which hasn’t been selling well. It would be tough to convince American buyers, who typically aren’t very enthusiastic about wagons or hatchbacks, to pay more for the Fit hybrid than they would for the Insight.

Honda says there are no plans to bring the hybrid Fit to the U.S., and Honda’s hybrid cars are struggling in North America. The Honda Civic Hybrid and Insight have both seen disappointing sales recently. With the current hybrids not performing up to expectations, Honda probably won’t add another to its model lineup. In December, Honda said that a Fit hybrid was out of the question, so don’t be surprised if the company decides to bring the new subcompact hybrid to America after all.