It is not exactly a secret the Jaguar has been thinking about a mid-size sports saloon to rival the likes of BMW 3-Series and Mercedes C-Class for a while. Now it seems the development of the car is finally underway, and they say it is going to be the best of its kind in the world.

The BMW 3-Series, as you know, has always been the benchmark by which all the other sports saloons are measured. That is due to the car’s excellent handling and behavior as a driver’s car, without compromising its core values as a family sedan.

So when asked by Autocar is the Jaguar’s 3-Series rival is going to be as good as the German car, the firm’s main planner Adrian Hallmark said no, it is going to be better.  It will be “the most advanced, most efficient, most refined car in that segment. Not almost as good as, but better than the best in the world”.

Hallmark added: “It will look and drive like a Jaguar, be filled with the highest technology that anyone has ever brought to that segment, and have the most efficient engines and the most refined feel in its class.”

Jaguar’s new sedan will be joined by a new estate and a SUV model, previewed by the C-x17 concept, sometime in 2015.