Jaguar Pounces With The New XJ

The all-new XJ unveiled today at London’s Saatchi gallery — by automotive personality-for-hire Jay Leno, of all people — is the crowning achievement in a transformation that has seen Jaguar phasing out overtly retro designs in favor of modern styling. And with plans for a range-extended electric version, the automaker is bringing a tinge of green to the big cat as well.


Jaguar has given its flagship a sleeker, more muscular look with a bold grille and bulging hood, and backed up the brawny look with an array of V8 engines cradled in an aluminum body. The company claims the new XJ is more powerful and more efficient than previous models and says it will offer an EREV XJ in 2011.


“The all new XJ is a thoroughly modern interpretation of the quintessential Jaguar,” said Ian Callum, design director at Jaguar. “It is the most emphatic statement yet of Jaguar’s new design direction.”

Before India’s automotive giant Tata bought Jaguar last year, the leaping cat wasn’t exactly the sales star of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group, which once included upscale brands like Aston Martin, Land Rover and Volvo. The tanking economy didn’t help matters for Tata as it tried to sell a car with an overly nostalgic design aesthetic more appealing to AARP members than young buyers.


But there’s hope for Jaguar, which started life in 1922 as the Swallow Sidecar Company. The company’s contemporary look has materialized in showrooms with models like the second- generation XK that debuted in 2006 and the XF, a handsome mid size sports sedan that replaced S-Type in 2007.

Thanks to the new XJ’s fresh look, Jaguar finally offers a full range of attractive, sporting alternatives to the likes of Mercedes-Benz and BMW. There’s no denying the new car is a radical design departure from the XJ of old, which is a good thing considering Jaguar sold just 810 XJs in the first half of this year compared to 3,197 BMW 7-Series and 2,174 Mercedes S-Class models, according the Automotive News data center.

Jaguar followed the industry design trend of maintaining continuity across the range — something most obviously seen in the Mercedes lineup, where the C-Class is essentially a condensed version of the S-Class.

To that end, the XJ clearly shares its bloodline with the XF — and the two cats have the same drag coefficient of 0.29 — but Callum didn’t just supersize the XF and head to the pub. The largest design departure can be found at the back of the car, which extends well past the D-pillar and cascades down to an uncluttered rear end free of extraneous badges and adornments. The roof section between the C and D pillars is blacked out, creating what Jag calls a “floating roof.” Those narrow headlights are almost identical to those on the wild C-XF concept car.

You’ll find all the opulence you’d expect of Jaguar inside the car, where there’s a few acres of wool, wood and leather. The dash features something Jag calls “virtual instrument dials,” and you can cue up your favorite tunes on the 1,200-watt Bowers & Wilkins stereo system if you get tired of the soundtrack provided by the V8 engine.

There are three to chose from, all displacing 5.0-liters and offering 385 to 510 horsepower in the top-end “R” model. Despite the boost in power over the 4.2-liter mill in the previous XJ, Jaguar says the new engines are more efficient and meet Europe’s EU5 and California’s ULEV2 emissions. Attribute that to direct injection and the liberal use of aluminum, more than 50 percent of which was recycled, according to Jaguar.

Hoping to burnish its eco-cred, Jaguar is working on a range-extended electric version of the XJ, which will feature a drivetrain similar to that of the Chevrolet Volt. Look for it in 2011.