Jaguar is in flux for the time being, however had plans not modified just a few years in the past it might be promoting this electrical flagship.
Former JLR CEO Thierry Bolloré infamously cancelled the electrical XJ early in 2021, simply months forward of its debut and regardless of a simultaneous announcement that Jaguar would change into an EV-only model.
The corporate had launched solely a single teaser picture of the car’s tail-lights.
Now, a picture has been revealed on X by Richard Seddon revealing an virtually fully undisguised prototype.
Those that labored on the design of the X391-series XJ could bristle at it leaking through a single, unflattering picture – the automotive is completed in white, has been shot below harsh lighting, and nonetheless wears camo on its entrance bumper.
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Whereas there’s just one picture, we are able to see it has a design that matches in with different members of the outgoing Jaguar lineup – all of that are within the means of being phased out, or have already exited manufacturing.
Its grille is most paying homage to the I-Tempo SUV, which ended up being Jaguar’s solo electrical car (EV) following the cancellation of the battery-powered XJ.
The headlights, nevertheless, are break up for a quad-light look, whereas the door handles are flush and the rear is extra curvaceous than that of the XE and XF sedans.
We additionally know from a earlier official teaser that the XJ would have had slim tail-lights, albeit with a full-width gentle bar.
The general look, subsequently, isn’t dramatically completely different from the smaller Jaguar sedans; in distinction, the previous-generation XJ wore comparable front-end styling to the up to date XF, however had a considerably completely different roof line and tail design.
Former JLR design head Ian Callum weighed in on the feedback of the X publish, saying, “That appears acquainted. Very long time in the past… Disgrace. We might have finished the facelift by now.”
It’s unclear if JLR will ultimately launch official photos of the car, a lot as Volkswagen did with its cancelled second-generation Phaeton.
The electrical XJ was set to make use of the Modular Longitudinal Structure (MLA), which was additionally due for use by a brand new flagship SUV for the model. This platform underpins the latest-generation Vary Rover and Vary Rover Sport.
Thierry Bolloré mentioned in February 2021 on the reveal of JLR’s Reimagine marketing strategy that “the deliberate Jaguar XJ alternative is not going to type a part of the lineup” because it was “not becoming” together with his new imaginative and prescient for the reborn Jaguar.
“It was one of many hardest selections I’ve ever made, particularly because it was in my first month, however XJ was a very completely different form of automotive from those we had been proposing – completely different in know-how, battery chemistry, electronics, dimension, efficiency and market place. It will by no means have suited our plans,” he subsequently informed Autocar in July 2021.
In November 2022, JLR introduced Mr Bolloré was stepping down from the highest function for “private causes”.
He had solely been within the function since September 2020, and through his temporary tenure had not solely cancelled the electrical XJ however introduced Jaguar would change into a extra unique, electric-only model by 2025.
Whereas the brand new XJ by no means noticed the sunshine of day, Jaguar is engaged on a brand new vary of high-end EVs.
The primary of those will likely be revealed in idea type on December 2, 2024, with Jaguar lastly teasing a prototype with dramatic proportions together with a protracted bonnet and a steeply raked windscreen.
It’s been an agonisingly sluggish drip-feed of data on Jaguar’s future, with even the model’s managing director Rawdon Glover expressing frustration earlier this 12 months.
“It’s been vastly irritating – saying we’re going all EV then ‘nothing’,” Mr Glover informed Prime Gear in September.
“Then-JLR CEO Thierry Bolloré mentioned on the time [the plan to go EV-only was announced] that Jaguar had a option to elevate itself out of the premium house and that selection has since been validated.
“We selected this construction in 2021, however vehicles don’t seem in a single day.
“We have to take [the brand] again to once we made stunning fascinating vehicles, not in enormous numbers and never having enormous numbers [of models] within the portfolio.”
JLR chief inventive officer Gerry McGovern has additionally been candid in what Jaguar’s function could be shifting ahead.
Briefly, it’s wanting extra in direction of Bentley than it’s BMW, which implies killing its complete present lineup.
“What we received’t fear about is being beloved by all people, as a result of that’s the kiss of dying,” Mr McGovern informed traders at a convention in remarks reported by Autocar in July 2023, warning it is a recipe for “mediocrity”.
“That’s what’s put Jaguar the place it’s as we speak with, which is with no fairness in anyway.
“This model was extremely profitable in North America 25 years in the past earlier than we took the compromises and the selections we made.
“A lower-volume, higher-price positioning is totally the correct place for Jaguar as we speak.
“There was a [25-year] void in between. So it’s cheap to imagine there’s lots of work to construct that model fairness.”
His remarks point out Jaguar needs to return to a time nicely earlier than the XE, XF, E-Tempo and F-Tempo, and earlier than even the X-Sort and S-Sort.
Previous to 1999, Jaguar for years offered one sedan line (the XJ) and one grand tourer line, tackling the most costly fashions that BMW and Mercedes-Benz needed to supply and never bothering with lower-price, higher-volume segments.
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