First look: Luxury cat attack
BY BRUCE NEWTON | 26th Mar 2002
Senior Jaguar executives are convinced the 7's challenging styling and futuristic iDrive concept, which organises the operation of major controls through a single central controller, has presented it with a significant opportunity to gain conquest sales for the new XJ.
The people from Jaguar believe the key to success in the lucrative limousine market segment is presenting this wealthy and relatively conservative audience with a styling evolution that is non-threatening and technical solutions that are not intimidating.
It is debatable if the 7 achieves either of these things. It is generally acknowledged as a great driver's car but is also quite radical to look at and control.
Jaguar believes it needs to strike the correct balance to make the XJ a success with its traditional audience and potential new buyers tempted with more and more new choices, including the VW Phaeton and the next generation Audi A8 due in 2003.
"This is the heartland of Jaguar, this is where Jaguar was for the last 20 or 30 years," said Jaguar global sales director Stephen Perrin. "We have a lot of people out there who are just waiting for the new XJ and I think that will get us off to a cracking start.
"But to really succeed with this car we've not just got to keep our current customers very loyal, but we've also got to get some customers out of (Mercedes-Benz) S-class and 7 Series, and ensure that people who are moving up into this sector recognise that Jaguar is a very attractive offering."The new XJ, codenamed X350, will make its world debut at the Paris motor show this September and go on sale in Australia in 2003. Jaguar is currently fine-tuning the final package at its Whitley research and development centre outside Coventry in the UK.
During a visit earlier this month, Australian journalists saw at least 10 disguised X350 prototypes. Embarrassed Jaguar PR flacks eventually gave up trying to shepherd the media away from the cars.
The illustration you see here by noted car stylist Bernie Walsh is based on our observations and previously published spy shots. Key elements include the retention of the four headlight front-end, long, thin front grille and narrow A and C-pillars.
But it is also immediately apparent that the X350 addresses criticisms of the current XJ's interior space and boot. The turret appears significantly higher on the new car, the front wheels are pushed further forward, the track appears wider and the body slightly longer than today's 5.0-metre short wheelbase design.
But the key to the new XJ is the all-alloy construction which is expected to make it about 200kg lighter than the current car. Only the A8 uses the same material in its body construction.
Marry that to a range of boosted engines - V6 3.0, V8 3.5 and 4.2, with the supercharged 300kW 4.2-litre V8 topping out the range - and Jaguar is promising strong performance and fuel economy at the same time.
"The car is going to be very recognisable as a Jaguar, very recognisable as an XJ, but I think it is also going to have a solidity of appearance about it that is going to make a statement, going to be very attractive in this class," Mr Perrin said.
"I think the outstanding things we have in our favour is as always the styling, both the exterior and interior. We have a very traditional Jaguar interior, traditional in the sense that it is absolutely Jaguar."While the XJ will avoid a BMW-style iDrive control system, it will include plenty of new technology, most of it transparent to the driver. Items being mooted include air springs in the suspension and a new generation ESP system.
* THE XJ is the latest in a product flood from Jaguar. The XK range is updated late this year, an X-Type R arrives in 2003, with an X-Type estate in 2004. Also around 2004 comes the F-Type competitor for the Boxster.
Diesel variants of the S-Type are also due to arrive in in late 2003 and will eventually spread to the XJ and X-Type - reflecting the increasing popularity of this motive power in Europe.
Jaguar is also continuing to mull over the Daimler brand, which is currently only surviving as a badge-engineered XJ.
"We need to focus on the Jaguar XJ, then as we move on see how we can use Daimler to be very much the top of the range model from the Jaguar stable," said Mr Perrin.
"It's a bit too badge-engineered now. It needs a little more substance than that."