Jaguar is launching its most daring saloon in 40 years, a new-look XJ flagship that extends and emphasises the design themes of its XF saloon.Above all, the new car makes a decisive break from the traditional but time-expired ‘XJ look’ that was introduced by Sir William Lyons with the original XJ in 1968 and used for at least five iterations since. See the full Jaguar XJ image gallery hereTake a video tour of the Jaguar XJ's interior hereThe new car was revealed at a celebrity-packed ceremony at London’s Saatchi Gallery, a venue chosen to emphasise the extent of this new Jaguar’s break with the past.Watch the Jaguar XJ launch on video hereThe new model’s key mission is to shore up Jaguar’s crumbling foothold in the luxury saloon sector, a presence which despite the well recognised road ability and technical excellence of the outgoing model, has been in decline for years.Download Jaguar XJ wallpaper images now
Chas Hallett blog - Jaguar launch proves the car's the star
Chas Hallett blog - Inside the new Jaguar XJ
Hilton Holloway blog - Jaguar XJ - bold, but is it a step too far?
Steve Cropley blog - Don't judge the new Jaguar XJ too soon
Concept and design
Despite this XJ’s new look, its creators claim the same 'clarity of purpose' as classic models like the Mk2 and original XJ. Jaguar design director Ian Callum calls the car “the most emphatic statement yet of Jaguar’s new design direction”. The design team, led by Giles Taylor, has produced a shape that, while clearly linked to the XF’s pioneering themes (including the much-discussed ‘mouth-shaped’ mesh grille), uses its extra length and the elongated teardrop shape of its new three-side-window design to give the biggest Jaguar a new quality of sleekness, emphasised by a class-leading drag coeffcient of 0.29.The most talked-about exterior styling feature is sure to be the completely new-style tail, which is reminiscent of no other Jaguar. It features a wide and full rear deck and new, wrap-over tail-lights with the suggestion of a cat’s claw in the lenses.
Chassis technology
The new car, very similar in all major dimensions to the previous XJ, uses the same bonded/riveted aluminium construction pioneered in the previous car. Two wheelbases are offered: a standard model on the familiar XJ 3035mm wheelbase, whose overall length is “within a few millimetres of the outgoing model’s”, and a version with a wheelbase that’s 125mm longer, at 3160mm. The new XJ’s all-aluminium construction means that, although its bulk increases over the previous model’s, the new XJ’s kerb weight of about 1650kg should undercut that of the smaller (steel-bodied) XF by around 50kg and beat steel-chassis rivals like the Mercedes S-class and BMW 7-series by as much as 250kg.
Engine and transmission
Three different engines are offered: a supercharged 5.0-litre all-alloy petrol V8; a normally aspirated version of the same engine, and a 3.0-litre twin-turbo diesel. Each drives the rear wheels through a six-speed, electronically controlled ZF auto ’box, which has the same paddle-shift manual overrides as the XK and XF models.The supercharged V8, which Jaguar is at pains to call a new design on different bore centres from the outgoing 4.2-litre unit, comes with two power outputs, 503bhp and 464bhp. The normally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 is good for 380bhp.
Add your comment