We use new XMM-Newton observations to perform a detailed X-ray analysis of the Carina nebula region in the 0.3-12 keV energy range. Our source detection yields 80 discrete X-ray sources, from which about 20 per cent seem not to have optical counterparts. To get an idea of the energy spectrum of these sources, we construct an X-ray colour-colour diagram using the energy bands 0.3-2, 2-4.5 and 4.5-12 keV. We analyse the spectra of the most intense X-ray sources associated with early-type stars, including the luminous blue variable η Carina and WR25. We show that the X-ray emission from these sources is well fitted by multitemperature model spectra. We detect surprisingly intense X-ray emission at energies above 4 keV for some of the observed early-type stars, especially from CPD-59 2629 (Tr16-22) which presents particularly hard X-ray emission. We detect intense soft X-ray emission, below