History
XKE or E-Type?
One car, two names, and a long-running disagreement about which is correct. The short answer is that both are, in their own markets, and the longer answer explains why the American name stuck.
Jaguar launched the car in March 1961 as the E-Type, following the C-Type and D-Type that preceded it in the company's alphabetical sequence of sporting and competition cars. That is the name published accounts give for the factory designation and for the production records held by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust. It is the name used by the clubs, and it is the name used throughout this archive.
Where XK-E came from
North America was the E-Type's most important export market, and Jaguar's operation there presented the car as the XK-E. The reasoning is easy to follow. The XK120, XK140 and XK150 had been selling in the United States through the 1950s, the XK name meant something to American buyers and dealers, and the new car could be introduced as the next XK rather than as an unfamiliar letter. Wikipedia's model entry records the car as the Jaguar E-Type, or the Jaguar XK-E for the North American market, and the Jaguar Clubs of North America model guide introduces it in the same way.
The hyphen fell out of use over time and the name compressed into XKE, which is now the common written form in American advertisements, auction catalogues and forum posts. None of this changes the car. A 1967 XKE roadster and a 1967 E-Type roadster are the same model described by two markets.
Which to use
Either. British and international usage favours E-Type, American usage often favours XKE, and both are understood on both sides of the Atlantic. When precision matters, as when buying a car or documenting one, the useful description is the series, the engine, the body style and the chassis number, all of which are covered under identification. The name in the heading of an advertisement is the least informative part of it.
Common questions
Is the XKE the same car as the E-Type?
Yes. They are two names for one model. Jaguar sold the car as the E-Type in Britain and most export markets, and the North American operation marketed it as the XK-E. There is no mechanical difference implied by the name itself, although cars built to United States specification do differ from home-market cars in emissions equipment, lighting and other details.
Why was the E-Type called the XK-E in America?
The XK name was already established in the United States through the XK120, XK140 and XK150, which had sold in numbers there through the 1950s. Presenting the new car as the XK-E carried that recognition forward. Published accounts of the home-market literature give E-Type throughout, and the XK-E name belongs to the North American sales operation rather than to Coventry.
Did Jaguar ever officially make a car called the XKE?
Jaguar built one car and gave it one factory designation, the E-Type. XK-E was the North American market name, and the run-together spelling XKE is a later informal contraction of it. A car advertised as an XKE is an E-Type, and the chassis number, not the name in the advertisement, is what identifies it.
Should I say E-Type or XKE?
Both are understood everywhere. British and international usage, club literature and the factory record all favour E-Type, and this archive uses it throughout. American owners and auction catalogues often use XKE, and nobody is wrong. Where precision matters, quote the series, the engine and the chassis number rather than the name.
What do the letters XK mean?
XK was Jaguar's designation for the twin-cam six-cylinder engine developed in the 1940s and first sold in the XK120 of 1948, and the name then attached to the cars that carried it. The E in E-Type follows Jaguar's alphabetical sequence of competition and sporting cars after the C-Type and D-Type.
Sources
- Wikipedia's Jaguar E-Type entry, for the North American XK-E market name and the launch dates.
- Jaguar Clubs of North America, model guide to the E-Type, for American usage of the XKE name from launch.
- Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, for the factory designation recorded against individual cars.