The Jaguar E-Pace has already lapped the Nürburgring

SUV. Nürburgring. Many laps. Not exactly words you would put into the same breath, but into the same breath they shall go: Jaguar has released a few new prototype images of its upcoming baby SUV, the E-Pace, and said it has put in many laps at the Nürburgring.

And not just the Nürburgring, either. As you would expect from a new car, 150+ E-Pace prototypes have been thrashed around Nardo, the Middle Eastern desert, the Arctic Circle and even the most remote rivers and high altitudes of China. No word on whether any survived the M25 at rush hour. We suspect not.

Still, it’s a sign that the final, road-ready E-Pace is nearly here. It’ll be fully revealed next week (13 July), at which point we’ll know a helluva lot more about the F-Pace’s baby brother.

What we know thus far is that it’ll be comfortably cheaper than the F-Pace, with prices starting from £28k. Meaning you’re likely to be seeing a lot more of them on the road (possibly less so at the ‘Ring).

It’ll also be available with a range of turbocharged petrol and diesel offerings, along with all-wheel-drive. Though smaller than an F, Jag reckons it’ll be a proper performance SUV “true to Jaguar’s performance DNA”. We can only hope SVO has sneaked into the development room at some point to cook up something suitably hot... 

Reckon the Porsche Macan should start worrying now?