Jaguar XJ 2010 News

It's an XJ luxury limousine that uses the same sort of power pack as the Chevrolet Volt.  A tiny three-cylinder petrol engine is used to charge an onboard battery pack, which then sparks the electric engines which move the car.The system has been developed by Lotus Engineering in Britain and, although full details are not yet public, Jaguar is the first confirmed customer.  "It's a series hybrid. Like the Volt," says Ian Callum, a director at Jaguar Cars in Britain.  "We have a prototype running at the moment. I've driven it. It goes quite quick.  "It's quite funny to drive. Almost bizarre with the sound and the way it goes. Electric cars are quick."Callum is the design chief at Jaguar but has a deep interest in mechanical motivation. His own garage houses a classic 1956 Chevrolet and a hotrod and he chooses a high-performance XF-R as his company ride.  He says the 'series' hybrid is a step on from the petrol-electric systems fitted to the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, although he says Jaguar — like a number of its rivals, including Porsche with the Panamera — will also use those to cut its carbon footprint.  "It's all part of the voyage of discovery. We're taking it very seriously," Callum says.He believes every carmaker will need a spread of green-power cars to get it through coming decades but admits Jaguar has not settled on a single electric track. And he rules out, for now, a full-on commitment to plug-in electric power.  "It's not the silver bullet. It's just one answer to a series of questions," Callum says.He admits the XJ hybrid is a firm program but has few details.  "We don't know, yet, how many we will build. We're going to build a limited number," he says.  "And we'll have a generation of hybrids as well."Callum defends Jaguar's position and the way the motor industry, as a whole, has been attacked over emissions. "Farming creates far more emissions than the motor industry. It's all about perceptions," he says.  "What I would like to see ... is a fairness in the distribution of effort to help the environment. The car industry has been hit very hard.  "It's an easy target. And it's way ahead of the game.  "Let's not pretend that making everything a hybrid is the answer. It may not be. Let's look at the physics and get away from the guilt." 

The top-down shot of the car was made public this week at Auto Shanghai 2009 as the head of Jaguar Cars, Mike O'Driscoll, revealed the first solid facts about the company's new flagship. The XJ is the second car in an all-new design direction developed by the ultra-talented Ian Callum, who broke the mould on Jaguar design with the mid-sized XF. His work is revealed with the heavy contoured creasing on the bonnet and the short tail of the XJ in the Jaguar picture. The nose, when it is revealed, will also take the XJ well away from previous cars and create a major point of difference against the latest BMW 7 Series and the just-facelifted Mercedes S Class. O'Driscoll confirmed in Shanghai that the XJ would go full-scale public on July 9 in London. It will be in showrooms in the UK and Europe before the end of the year. He also said the car will be the first with Jaguar's next-generation aluminium body system, inspired from the aerospace industry, and would be available in both regular and long-wheelbase models with a range of engines from a V6 diesel to a supercharged V8 with 380 kiloWatts. The engines will be shared with Land Rover — which, like Jaguar, is now owned by India's Tata group — and were revealed in the UK a fortnight ago at the preview of the 2010-model Land Rover models. The only luxury feature confirmed for the new XJ is a panoramic glass roof, although O'Driscoll says the car will have "the highest standards of personal luxury and specification". The Australian plan for the XJ is still being finalised but it will not arrive until 2010. "The car will be launched here in March, 2010. We will have a reveal event for customers and media and dealers sometime in quarter four," says Tim Krieger of Jaguar Australia. He is vague on details beyond the size and refuses to discuss prices or specifications. "We'll get both the long and short-wheelbase cars. It's all too early for that sort of stuff." He also says that, despite slow sales, the last of the current XJ cars will be cleared before the new ones hit Australia. "We're in the final stages of run-out. We've got minimal levels of stock. We should have enough cars to get us through, and we're in a good position to start pre-sale activity."

The upcoming XJ limousine will be as much of a departure from today's staid old XJ as the mid-sized XF, which has become a global star for the brand, was from the unloved S-Type it replaced.

First it was 600 new staff. Now it's a new vision for the future.Things are changing, and changing fast, for Jaguar Land Rover under its new ownership by Tata of India.It is recruiting 600 engineering specialists across the two brands and has opened a Virtual Reality Centre in Britain to help design the cars of the future.Such a huge financial commitment points to a solid future, perhaps even including the go-ahead for a born-again E-Type Jaguar to sell alongside the forthcoming baby Land Rover LRX city car.JLR is now divorced from Ford, which sold it to Tata when the late Geoff Polites was running the operation and leading it back into significant profit for the first time in 10 years.“There is a fair bit of liberation there. Our senior people are walking around with their chests thrust out,” says the head of JLR Australia, David Blackall, who has just returned from head office in Britain.“It's a big recruitment drive. Most of the emphasis is on new technology and sustainable energy. We've basically been given the brief that . . . we're trying to build for the future. It's about as upbeat and positive as I've seen it for a long time.“It's all about sustainable technologies. When you make fairly large, off-road-capable vehicles, you need a way forward in a reduced-carbon world.”Blackall reports strong sales in Australia since the arrival of the latest Jaguar XF, the make-or-break model for the brand.“XF on the Jaguar side has begun brilliantly. We sold our program in June for the best month for Jaguar in about four years,” he says.“We have a little more supply and will sell 400 to 450 Jaguars to the end of the year.”In Britain, the Virtual Reality Centre is the key to the cars, which will follow the XF, the forthcoming XJ flagship and the LRX.The centre cost more than $5 million and is intended to cut new-model development times. JLR claims it is the most advanced of its type in the world and allows designers and engineers to interact with life-size, three-dimensional models.The system reduces the need for physical prototypes, saving time and money. It uses eight Sony high-resolution projectors to produce 3D images for staff, who wear special glasses that give them a picture four times as clear as a high-definition television. 

The Geneva Motor Show is known as the stylist's exhibition. It's the chance for high-end European brands to display their latest creations. So it was appropriate Jaguar chose the classy Swiss city in which to unwrap its revised XJ sedan. The XJ, with many visual changes, will reach local showrooms late this year. The engines carry over from the 2.7-litre twin-turbo TDVi V6 diesel to a 3.0-litre petrol V6 and up to the 4.2-litre supercharged and naturally aspirated V8s. For next year there is a new Jaguar Growler badge, revised front bumper and air intakes, XK-style vents in the front mudguards, lower body sills, new alloys, subtle rear bootlid spoiler and new mirrors with integrated indicators. Inside, the leather and wood cabin gets heated front seats and rear legroom has been improved, thanks to more scalloped front seatbacks. Bluetooth connectivity pairs with up to five mobile phone choices and hands-free activation. In Europe, the entry-level Executive (2.7 and 3.0) gets 19-inch, 10-spoke Carelia wheels from the XK and a heated windscreen. The diesel-only XJ Sport Premium adds "R" seats with leather seat facings, aluminium veneer, satellite-navigation, black side window surrounds and 20-inch Cremona wheels. Executive-based XJ Sovereign models (2.7, 3.0 and 4.2) add 16-way electric front seats, satellite navigation, bi-xenon headlights and five-spoke, 19-inch Polaris wheels. The range-topping XJR has alloy-look mudguard vents, an R-badged gearshift, black brake calipers and front-seat cooling. The XJ is something of a slow-burner on the sales charts for cars worth more than $100,000. Last year Jaguar sold only 59 XJ sedans compared with 578 S-Classes and 293 7-Series.