2008
Jaguar XF
The Jaguar XF is a mid-size luxury car / executive car that
will replace the S-Type in the British automaker Jaguar Cars
lineup. Neither details nor official images of the new car
have emerged, but a production version of the XF is scheduled
for launch for the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show [1], with customer
deliveries set to commence in spring 2008, depending on market.
Jaguar says the new car will be developed at their HQ in
Coventry, UK and will be built in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham,
UK.
The Jaguar C-XF (for Concept-XF) is a concept car which indicates
a new design direction for Jaguar cars. It was revealed at
the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan.
The C-XF concept is a preview of the forthcoming Jaguar XF
model.
Details of the concept were officially unveiled by Jaguar
on 3 January 2007.
The current and previous generations of Jaguar cars were
notably "retro" in design, being heavily influenced
by styling cues from classic Jaguars from the 1960s. The C-XF
represents a departure from that design strategy. Although
the C-XF has four doors, its shape is very much that of a
coupé, following a design trend started by the already
super-successful Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class. Jaguar knows this
approach will limit the potential market for the car, but
the thinking within Jaguar is that its current woes are down
to an overly ambitious, poorly conceived and executed plan
to turn Jaguar into a large-volume rival for BMW, Mercedes-Benz
and Audi. So now, instead of building the 200,000 cars per
year, mooted at the turn of the century it will aim for somewhat
less than 100,000, turning Jaguar into an exclusive, low-volume
manufacturer of high-quality premium sporting cars. The role
of the large-volume rival against the established luxury German
brands will be therefore played by Volvo, the most successful
and profitable company in Premier Automotive Group, Ford's
stable of luxury brands in Europe. The Jaguar XK was the first
tentative step in this direction — the XF is the giant
leap, as Ian Callum puts it: "Jaguars should be perceived
as cool cars, and cool cars attract interesting, edgy people."
There are rumours that the C-XF is planned to appear in the
next, as yet untitled, James Bond film Bond 22.
In a recent episode of the BBC motoring series Top Gear,
Jeremy Clarkson remarked to co-host Richard Hammond; "If
that car comes out like that, i'll saw my leg off and beat
myself on the head with it", in response to previous
Jaguar concept cars which failed to make it into production.
Hammond followed simply by saying; "Do it, build it,
just build it".
