diff --git a/nbconvert/exporters/pdf.py b/nbconvert/exporters/pdf.py
index 4226b44b7..97843536f 100644
--- a/nbconvert/exporters/pdf.py
+++ b/nbconvert/exporters/pdf.py
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ class PDFExporter(LatexExporter):
     latex_count = Integer(3, help="How many times latex will be called.").tag(config=True)
 
     latex_command = List(
-        ["xelatex", "{filename}", "-quiet"], help="Shell command used to compile latex."
+        ["xelatex", "-shell-escape", "{filename}", "-quiet"], help="Shell command used to compile latex."
     ).tag(config=True)
 
     bib_command = List(["bibtex", "{filename}"], help="Shell command used to run bibtex.").tag(
diff --git a/share/templates/latex/base.tex.j2 b/share/templates/latex/base.tex.j2
index 493130b07..2b3c0a8a7 100644
--- a/share/templates/latex/base.tex.j2
+++ b/share/templates/latex/base.tex.j2
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@ override this.-=))
     \usepackage{graphicx}
     % Keep aspect ratio if custom image width or height is specified
     \setkeys{Gin}{keepaspectratio}
-    % Maintain compatibility with old templates. Remove in nbconvert 6.0
-    \let\Oldincludegraphics\includegraphics
     % Ensure that by default, figures have no caption (until we provide a
     % proper Figure object with a Caption API and a way to capture that
     % in the conversion process - todo).
@@ -93,6 +91,23 @@ override this.-=))
                                 % normalem makes italics be italics, not underlines
     \usepackage{soul}      % strikethrough (\st) support for pandoc >= 3.0.0
     \usepackage{mathrsfs}
+    \usepackage{svg} % enable support for rendering SVGs via Inkscape
+    \makeatletter
+    % Hook to includgraphics to pass SVGs to \includesvg
+    \let\includegraphics@original\includegraphics
+    % Hook
+    \renewcommand{\includegraphics}[2][]{%
+    \def\svgextension{svg}
+    \filename@parse{#2}%
+    \ifx\filename@ext\svgextension
+      \includesvg[#1]{#2}
+    \else
+      \includegraphics@original[#1]{#2}
+    \fi
+    }%
+    \makeatother
+    % Maintain compatibility with old templates. Remove in nbconvert 6.0
+    \let\Oldincludegraphics\includegraphics
     ((* endblock packages *))
 
     ((* block definitions *))