Jaguar will now put Chequered Flags on anything

Last year, Jaguar gave the F-Type an update. A bit of new tech here, some slightly stiffer suspension there… and a Chequered Flag special edition that, on a rear-driven sports car, felt entirely befitting.

Alas, many Chequered Flag editions have followed. The XF luxo-saloon, the F-Pace SUV and now this, the titchy E-Pace crossover.

The irrelevance runs more than skin deep, too. While you can have an E-Pace Chequered Flag with a 245bhp petrol engine fitted, you can also buy an achingly sensible 148bhp diesel with the same badges. Course you can.

There are nice things to accompany it, mind; Chequered Flags get heated seats, a panoramic roof, much phone connectivity and something called ‘Ebony Morzine headliner’. All very lovely, no doubt, but not a bunch of extras that scream ‘racetrack’.

Prices start at £40,050, making this special edition about seven grand pricier than an equivalent base-spec E-Pace, but perhaps good value given the haul of kit it brings.

But what comes next? Motorsport-inspired door sills on the eco-friendly I-Pace, too? Um, quite probably.