Jaguar releases all-new XJ
July 10, 2009 by Matt Brogan
Jaguar has today officially unveiled its all-new XJ, a car it claims represents a daring new automotive spirit that is sleek, sporting and sophisticated.
The new XJ builds on the success of the XK and popular XF models to revitalise the brand, a move Jaguar hopes will see the famous marque grow its appeal to a whole new generation of customers.
With elegant yet sporty lines, the design is the boldest interpretation yet of Design Director Ian Callum’s vision for 21st century Jaguar with the car’s overall form still managing to remain fluid and contemporary.
“The new XJ is a thoroughly modern interpretation of the quintessential Jaguar. Its visual impact stems from the elongated teardrop shape of the car’s side windows, a powerful stance and wide track. It is the most emphatic statement yet of Jaguar’s new design direction,” Ian Callum, Design Director, Jaguar Cars.
The cabin blends Jaguar’s heritage with elegant, contemporary design sporting chrome and piano black detail throughout neatly contrasting the eye-catching wood veneer surfaces and hand-crafted leather upholstery.
The XJ will be available in both standard and long-wheelbase variants with the latter allowing rear seat passengers an additional 125mm of legroom. Luggage capacity is 520 litres in both models.
Featuring an all-aluminium aerospace-inspired body the XJ weighs in at some 150kg lighter than its nearest rival while at the same time providing improved performance, handling, economy and safety.
“The all-new XJ re-imagines the ultimate sporting luxury car. It’s beautiful, exhilarating to drive and with a bold, enlightened approach to design meets the challenges of our fast changing world,” Mike O’Driscoll, Managing Director, Jaguar Cars.
Air suspension with continuously variable damping provides a comfortable yet capable ride with Jaguar’s active differential control and quick-ratio power steering allowing a dynamic and enjoyable driving experience.
Under the bonnet the new XJ comes with four engine choices (dependant on market) coupled to a six-speed shift-by-wire automatic transmission.
- 3.0-litre (202kW) V6 twin-turbo diesel, 0-100km/h: 6.4sec
- 5.0-litre (283kW) V8 direct injection petrol, 0-100km/h: 5.7sec
- 5.0-litre (346kW) V8 supercharged petrol, 0-100km/h: 5.2sec
- 5.0-litre (375kW) V8 supercharged petrol, 0-100km/h: 4.9sec
Cabin features include a stunning 12.3-inch high definition virtual instruments screen; dual-view 8.0-inch touchscreen that can project DVDs or TV to the passenger while the driver views vehicle functions or satellite navigation; and a premium 1200W Bowers & Wilkins surround sound system to name a few.
Delivery of the first customer cars begins in March 2010.
Print it: 
Beatiful front.
Horrible rear
Horrible interior
Front grile is to big and clashes with the lights.
Otherwise a nice continuation of the new look.
Should do well in Asian markets.
Each to their own O, and I believe this style will polarise the masses but I think it is drop dead georgous. Love it (in phot’s anyway) the only criticism is the c pillar treatment
Wow. What a progression from the old model. This is REALLY pretty. Never saw this direction coming, but love it.
Probably the best looking car in it’s class! Once again looks like the diesel is the pick of the pack. Jaguar heading in the right direction once more.
Love the front three quarters and interior. Jury is out on the back, but I suspect it works a lot better in the flesh than in photos. No doubt this car will have a lot of presence on the road. Great to see Jaguar living in the present these days.
This is possibly the sexiest car on the road, it looks absolutely stunning. Cant wait to see it in the flesh!
that would not fit in a parking spot here in australia. too long
looks great, apart from the boot design is a bit strange,
but its good to see jaguar back to coming up with fresh new designs, instead of refreshing old ones!!!
O im with you all the way. The lights look like the rear came off a Buick La’ Crosse, and the interior brings back horrible memories of the old XJ, but lets hope the driving is on par with the XF.
Finally a modern XJ, i like it ;-) It’s rather unique, love the fact they have used the XF’s concept vehicles headlight design. Not a fan of the C pillar.
The interior appears better than i expected and nothing like the XF’s interior.
Imo the exterior styling is better executed than S class and BMW 7 series.
All alloy construction just adds to the new found appeal.
Looks great, both inside and out, but the rear is just a little too much like a Citroen C6 for my liking.
You know what? If you take a look at the third photograph from the article, it looks like the VE Holden statesman. Which is by no means ugly!
Love the car, looks stunning.
As a Jaguar Mk2 owner, I have been waiting for Jaguar’s designs to reflect the past glories of Sir William Lyons. I believe the new XJ is sufficiently different & quite beautiful, to stand out from the current crop of large luxury sedans. Well done to the team at Jaguar – I sincerely hope these cars do it for the company and that your new owners don’t have to shed too much more red ink.
Looks like a Citroen C6 from the back.
Hardly ground breaking though. Nothing that hasn’t been done before.A panamera will put this is the shade.
You really can tell a lot about a car by its launch. The new XJ was a celebrity feast while the launch of the panamera was all about the driving experience. Tells you a lot about the intended audience for these cars
Looks quite handsome.
The rear end did bring to mind a bit of Citroen C6, which is not an entirely good thing.
oh so disapointing, so bland and predictable…wheres the character!!
The only thing I’m undecided on are the blacked out C pillars. They may be there to make the rear window look full width but they just look cheap to me. Overall though I give it a thumbs up, much better than the oh-so predictable 7 series, S class and Lexus luxo-barges. Far more cohesive than the Panamera too. Still not quite as beautiful as a Quattroporte, however.
It looks great from some angles – I like the front end treatment a lot.
But that interior is horrible – compare it to an S-Class or 7-Series or A8 or LS460 and it’s considerably dated.
ScottB Says:
July 10th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
“Overall though I give it a thumbs up, much better than the oh-so predictable 7 series, S class and Lexus luxo-barges. Far more cohesive than the Panamera too. Still not quite as beautiful as a Quattroporte, however.”
You’ve never driven or been driven in an S class or 7 Series have you? People want quality at that price and that interior is not up to par.
The headlight treatment should have been on the XF.
Or the XF’s rear end should be hereon the Xj.
Not sure about the blacked out C pillar?
But like the Jag of late, this is a gorgeous cat! Makes the 7 series so… yesterday’s Jag. No offence to some gorgeous feline of old. Just talking about the boring 5 & 7 series of late.
Nice….. if you like to be seen in an old mans car
I like the interior, because when you’re in it, you cant see the exterior.
And you’ve not sat in the new Jag, so well done judging the quality of the interior on a small low res photo. Have a cookie.
Besides, I didn’t actually mention the interior in my post, so well done leaping to conclusions. Have another cookie.
Where’s the class?
This will age very quickly, thus resale will be poor… again.
Jags are seriously cool cars now. All they need to do is update the x type. The cheapest XF costs $109,990, thats beyond most peoples range. It looks much better then the new s class and 7 series.
Jags are awesome. This is even better then the xf
1/mmmmmmmm “piano-black”, my fav. fetish!
Good that its different, no longer a old-style-jag which is a good theing, that was done to death, all depends on the price, the Germany and Lexus/Infiniti buyers are very loyal so going to be hard work to win them back.
Need a LWB to keep up with all the others.
This is the LAST Ford designed/engineered/funded Jag., all Indian from here on in, next new model is going to be the real challenge.
Great that buyers have more choice.
I still pick the VW Phaeton, love what google dug up, *vapouware*, must have got pretty close, pity, by now it would at the price that i would be willing to pay for a used!:
http://aol.autoweb.com.au/cms/…..ticle.html
Cheers
F-0
Looks like one of the designers from either Cadillac or Maserati had a hand in this one…. well at least its got an Awesome ICE System I guess
Well, that’s a beautiful car. And Yeah, a little-bit maserati-like!
Holden should try and plonk the diesel V6 into the commodore. They’re already playing with one from BMW, so why not this. Jaguar would probably charge less, than those stuck up Bavarians.
It is interesting to see the difference between sites. On WCF most people dislike the design but on CA majority of the people like it
I think that looks aside, finally we have something a bit special in this segment. The S Class is almost common and as I have commented in other stories about it, the new 7 Series just isn’t all that special. It’s a bit boring really. Immensly impressive, but a bit boring.
I think this looks perfect from the front, swoopy and a bit confronting but despite the fact that I am a massive Jagaur fan, the back will take some getting used to for me. Mainly the lights, I’m OK with the shape, but the lights are a bit too much of a departure from the XF for me and currently, I think it looks a bit Chinese.
I think that the interior is beautiful. Perfect. Although I don’t like the wood so I hope they offer aluminium and piano black, or even just a more modern wood grain.
As I wrote though, finally a properly special car in this segment. The BMW concept CS was meant to be the first special one, but BMW put a stop to that for some ungodly reason, so Jaguar has done it.
A 3.0D or an XJR would be a most desirable machine. I can’t wait to see them on the road.
New Jaguar XJ manufacturing plant at Castle Bromwich UK
youtube.com/watch?v=2mWzK5KeUL4
Looks like a Jag should classy & sporting compared to it’s dull German & Jap rivals.
the interior is magnificant (not in those colours, and have seen it in black with darker wood – stunning).
i love everything other than the rear.
from the first teaser image, i loved the c-pillar treatment, however now it just doesn’t “flow” like the above image depicted.
also, numberplate should be on bootlid, and the rear end flatter (as it looks to ‘fat’ for the tapered end).
other than that, this car is truly beautiful. best in class for styling/individuality.
Jazrod, I have a feeling that if the license plate went on the boot lid it would look almost exactly the same as a Maserati Quattroporte from the back. I saw some more pictures of the interior too; I agree. With black leather and darker wood grain it looks stunning, the nicest and sportiest, not to mention most luxurious looking limousine interior around right now if you ask me.
Wait till you see it in the metal before you knock it.
Gorgeous FKN car! TT TD V6 sounds good, but cats are made to purr!
It doesn’t look like a Jag.
ScottB Says:
July 10th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
“And you’ve not sat in the new Jag, so well done judging the quality of the interior on a small low res photo. Have a cookie.”
I’ll give my mate at TATA a call to supply some HQ photos.
Front end is fabulous
Side view the same.
Rear end bulbous and lacking focus.
The interior. I am lost for words. The most spectacular I have seen in a longwhile.
Engine choices are outstanding.
These opinions are obviously formed from a selection of photos and specs sheets.
IMO! Jaguar has turned in the right direction. I doubt they will ever threaten BMW or Mercs sales dominance at this level, but what they have now offered is a great looking car that makes the S Class and newly released 7 series look very conservative. In the past the XJ offered a good driving experience but looked too dated. So dated in fact that the average buyer was 55+ which is not a bad thing in itself, but alienates a whole lot of younger executives who don’t want too be seen as daggy. Jaguar knew this and have now offered up a package that definitely delivers the goods in the looks departments (from most views anyway) and should deliver in the driving as well. They may have turned off some XJ diehards with their new bold design direction but that is the price too pay if they are too be considered in the mix at the S class/7 series level of purchasing power!
The Realist,
As usual you are full of hollow conclusions, hope those HQ photos from Tata don’t prove you incorrect.
I guess your next assumption could be that the new XJ’s all alloy construction is inferior to the steel utilised by Jag’s primary competition!?
Rename yourself The Pessimist!
Guys check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=channel
Virtual instrument display? How is that going to work in daylight??? Does look cool though.. wonder if you can customize it???
Too much like a limo….back is horrible to me….
It is crazy sleek! Look at it, all sloping and low. I do love but I think those tailights might need to grow on me.
Zahmad, that just might be because it is a limousine. I would hope it did look like one. I know that I wouldn’t want my $200,000 limousine looking like an executive sedan.
adam (aka mada) Says:
July 11th, 2009 at 11:07 am
“I guess your next assumption could be that the new XJ’s all alloy construction is inferior to the steel utilised by Jag’s primary competition!?”
I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve driven one and read reviews, however if they can’t improve the safety, quality and performance *markedly* over the competition all that “all alloy construction” won’t mean much.
It’s not like the Audi A8 has made the S Class and 7 Series obsolete with its aluminium construction… if Audi can’t do it what makes you think Jaguar can?
The realist,
Take a look at the engine options and the performance and fuel consumption the XJ offer’s over the competition.
The XJ’s weight advantage is clear over the competition, along with body stiffness.