Jaguar has just unveiled two of the fastest cars in its history, with the new 2010 XFR saloon and 2010 XKR sports coupe and cabrio making their respective debuts at this week’s Detroit Auto Show, however, according to latest reports the company is working on an even faster, mid-engined supercar. The new flagship will reportedly make its debut in around 12 month’s time and is being designed to take on the likes of the Audi R8 and upcoming Mercedes Benz SLC Gullwing.

This isn’t the new light-weight sports car that has been reported on for several months. The new Jaguar flagship is tipped to be called the XE, a name the company recently filed as a trademark in the UK.

The first hint that such a car could be in the works came from Jaguar’s managing director Mike O’Driscoll, who told AutoExpress that the “XK is the car that began a revolution for us, but it’s not the end of the story. I firmly believe the best car we could build to compliment this is a flagship coupe.”

The new XE is claimed to be an evolution of the R-Coupe concept from 2001. It will borrow components from the current XK but it will be the first mid-engined Jaguar since the stunning XJ220 was launched more than 18 years ago.

Power is expected to come from the recently introduced twin Roots-type supercharged AJ-V8 Gen III 5.0L V8 engine, but should be somewhat about the 510hp (380kW) found in the XKR and XFR.