XJ saloon dodges the axe to be reborn as a technology-packed ‘indulgence’ in 2019
After months of debate
Jaguar bosses have
finally pushed the button
on reinventing the XJ as an
“indulgent, super-luxury” car.
The new XJ is likely to
feature mixed-materials body
construction, a new-generation
V6 hybrid drivetrain, an entirely
fresh look for the interior and
much more of the technology
needed for connected and
autonomous driving.
It’s expected to arrive in
showrooms in spring 2019 and
a concept version could be seen
in 2018, the 50th anniversary
of the original XJ.
According to inside sources,
the debate on how to replace
Jaguar’s flagship model was
wide-ranging. Some in the
company thought the XJ could
be remade as a kind of super-
SUV similar in concept to the
Range Rover Sport.
Others proposed an end for
the XJ, believing the investment
in a large saloon to take on the
Mercedes-Benz S-Class might
not make a sound business
case. Sales of today’s XJ have
risen steadily to 20,000 units
per year, but that’s only a
fraction of S-Class sales.
It was also suggested that
the latest XF had undermined
the case for the new XJ to be
a conventional big saloon.
Today’s XF, which is based
on the latest D7a aluminium
architecture, is marginally
more spacious than the current
seven-year-old XJ
Autocar understands that
debate over the XJ’s future
went right up the chain of
command to Ratan Tata, father
of the Indian brand that owns
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). As
recently as summer last year,
an XJ replacement wasn’t even
on the official model cycle plan.
In the past few weeks,
Jaguar design boss Ian Callum
obliquely referred to the future
of the XJ while taking about the
F-Pace. When asked by Autocar
if the F-Pace SUV would, like
Volvo’s XC90, become Jaguar’s
de facto flagship, he disagreed.
“Proper luxury brands have
to have an indulgent car in
there somewhere,” he said.
“We’ve got two: the XJ and
the F-Type. If you want the
room of an XJ, you might as
well buy an XF — there’s not
much in it — but the whole
point of luxury is indulgence,
so you need a car like that,
something that acts as the
bookend for the brand. I think
we will always have that.”
Autocar understands from
various other sources that the
decision to replace the XJ and
the form it should take was
made in the light of a number of
market developments.
The first was the huge
success of the current S-Class,
which confounded analysts’
forecasts that conventional
luxury saloons were being
undermined by SUVs and
perceived as upmarket taxis.
Indeed, at the Geneva
show, BMW board member
Ian Robertson underlined the
primacy of the super-luxury
saloon when he insisted the
new Rolls-Royce Phantom
would be the brand’s flagship
rather than the Cullinan SUV.
The second development
was the arrival of the new BMW
7 Series, which introduced
a hybrid bodyshell using
carbonfibre, steel and
aluminium. The lavish interiors
and craftsmanship of the BMW
and Mercedes cabins also made
Jaguar planners realise how far
the bar in the premium market
has been raised.
Jaguar bosses also
know their brand needs to
catch up in terms of serious
drivetrain electrification
and autonomous driving
technologies.
Finally, a new XJ saloon
will provide an opportunity
for Jaguar to develop a new
generation of design language,
both inside and out, especially
now the XE/XF/F-Pace family
has been launched.
Autocar understands the
new XJ will be based on the
same basic D7a aluminium
architecture, with sections
of the structure replaced by
lightweight carbonfibre.
Because the JLR aluminium
platform is constructed using
rivets and adhesive, it is
remarkably straightforward to
incorporate carbonfibre panels
and structures. The upshot is
a structure that will be lighter
and stiffer, which is especially
important if the XJ is sold
mainly as a V6 plug-in hybrid.
The new XJ’s drivetrain is
rumoured to be built around an
all-new V6 Ingenium engine.
A spin-off from the threecylinder
Ingenuim engine
being prepared for a Range
Rover Evoque hybrid, the new
six-pot will replace the current
AJ-V6 engine, sister unit of the
AJ-V8, which dates from 2000.
The new V6 will be offered
in petrol and diesel forms,
but there’s no news yet about
whether the new XJ hybrid
transmission will be coupled
to one or both fuel types.
The company’s design
team is said to be determined
to completely reboot the
idea of a Jaguar interior and
significantly upgrade the
interior quality and treatment.
The styling is expected to
be much more luxurious and
lavish than the XE’s and XF’s
and will feature a more radical
digital screen treatment for
the instruments and even
touchscreens for both the
infotainment and transmission
control on the centre console.
It’s encouraging for Jaguar
— which, ahead of the start
of F-Pace sales, remains a
relatively small company —
that the investment in the
new XJ will go mainly into the
interior, because the common
platform and transmission
strategy across JLR is now
paying dividends.
Executing a reinvention
of the XJ — a model widely
regarded as the best car in the
world when it was launched
in 1968 — will not be easy,
but Jaguar needs to stay in
contention with its German
opposition.
However, the good news is
that a new XJ will rely more
on sheer creativity than the
need for massive capital
investments.
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