For years the premium upper medium segment has been locked out to all but three players: BMW, Audi and Mercedes. Now Jaguar is hoping its XE will jump straight into this group and become the brand's biggest-selling car.

The XE has the right credentials to succeed in the business car arena. CO2 emissions figures start from 99g/km, which leads the established group, and power from the 2.0-litre diesel equals that of the BMW and Audi at 163hp.

This low CO2 figure and therefore 17% benefit-in-kind banding, together with a very strong residual value from KwikCarcost of 43.7% at three years/60,000 miles, means low whole-life costs and a competition-beating cost per mile of 55.2p for the SE manual version. This is a full 5p per mile better than the next nearest rival, the Mercedes C-class in C220 CDI SE form. And the BMW 3-series and Audi A4 are more expensive per mile than that.

Specification is competitive too, with satellite navigation standard, as well as more common items such as parking sensors, Bluetooth, climate control and alloy wheels to keep the user chooser happy. This spec, plus impressive figures for official fuel consumption and insurance at 75.0mpg and group 22 respectively mean drivers and businesses should be happy.

And even though the P11D figure for the 2.0D SE manual is higher than that of the Audi and BMW, that strong RV figure means depreciation is by far the lowest in the sector.

If you want to get picky, the downsides are a fractionally slower 0-60mph time of 8.4 seconds.
The Audi records 8.3 seconds, the BMW 8.0 seconds and the Mercedes C-class  7.7 seconds.
The boot space is also smaller than that for the three main rivals - they all record 480 litres while the XE comes in at 455 litres.

And for those covering mega miles the XE has the smallest range. Despite that 75.0mpg official figure, a 47-litre fuel tank means drivers will go 'only' 776 miles between fills, whereas the 320ed will go 846 miles, the A4 Ultra 933 miles and the C220 CDI 1025 miles per tank.

However, overall Jaguar has developed a car which is in a strong position to upset the status quo in the premium upper medium sector which has long been dominated by the main three German brands.

Key rival: Audi A4

The Audi A4 has now been on the market in its current guise for some time and its replacement is due for reveal later this year. Despite this, it still remains a strong contender and has a fractionally stronger RV, at 33.9%, than its main rival the BMW 3-series, at 33.0%.

In fact, the market is so competitive that the A4 saloon 2.0 TDI Ultra SE Technik manual is near identical on the numbers with the 4dr BMW 320d Efficient Dynamics manual.

The A4 is £185 higher in P11D, but the stronger RV neutralises that stat. The only other notable difference is the Audi's SMR costs, which are £425 higher over three years.

All the figures balance in terms of cost per mile, which sits at 62.4p - the same as the BMW.