DESIGN CUES FROM C-XF CONCEPT

+ Click to Enlarge NEW DIRECTION: The fourth-generation Jaguar XJ sedan represents a complete break with the design language of the previous models, which dates back to the original XJ6 of 1968.

July 14, 2009
By David Wilkins

Jaguar has broken with 40 years of history by abandoning the design language that has characterised its top-of-the-range XJ sedans since they were launched in 1968.

This is the fourth all-new XJ but the previous updates were all timid affairs that scarcely departed from the long, low, wide stance and four-headlights face of the successful original.

Perversely, the outgoing XJ, introduced only a few years ago, was, despite its familiar appearance, stuffed with advanced technology, including a clever aluminium body that made it several hundred kilograms lighter than its competitors.

This dramatic new XJ finally escapes the long shadow cast by the 1968 car but bears a family resemblance to Jaguar’s own smaller XF sedan, especially around the nose.

The XF’s design was based on Jaguar’s C-XF concept and there was some disappointment that the C-XF’s dramatic frontal styling was watered down a bit for the XF.

The XJ’s face draws more directly on the C-XF and is better for it.

The rear of the XJ is more controversial and since the first official pictures of the car leaked out, it's been the XJ’s tail that has fuelled most of the discussion of the new car on enthusiasts’ Internet forums.

Some have detected overtones of Maserati and Bentley in the XJ’s rear treatment while one contributor to an online discussion suggested, with some justice, that the XJ’s vertical tail lights, short and very slightly humped boot lid and blacked-out rear roof pillars faintly recalled the Sunbeam Rapier coupe that was such a familiar sight on British roads in the 1970's.

Perhaps the ghosts of the old Rootes group still haunt Jaguar’s Whitley design centre, which is on an old Rootes/Chrysler site.

The XJ will be available in short and long-wheelbase versions. Prices in the UK start at £52 500. Engines are uprated versions of Jaguar’s well-regarded V6 diesel and V8 petrol units. - The Independent, London