Concept XF Unveiled At Detroit

Media Bulletin

Concept XF Unveiled At Detroit

10 January 2007

Jaguar has unveiled its concept XF sports sedan at the Detroit Motor Show. The production ready version of the car will be revealed at September's Frankfurt Motor Show.

The C-XF concept car signals the onset of a new era for Jaguar. A stunning, four-door sports sedan which blends design purity with unmistakable dynamism, the C-XF is a clear indication of the design direction that the next generations of Jaguar sedans will take.

Designed by the same teams that produced the award-winning Jaguar XK sports GT coupe range - headed by Jaguar Director of Design Ian Callum and Head of Advanced Design Julian Thomson - the C-XF concept is a precursor to cars that will become recognised for their ground-breaking exterior looks and innovative interiors.

"Great Jaguars turn heads in the street. They make people stop and pay attention. They evoke instant desire. That's what the C-XF does and that's what the next generation of Jaguars will do," according to Ian Callum, Director of Design, Jaguar Cars.

As a striking interpretation of the design values that are the bedrock of every great Jaguar, the C-XF is wholly contemporary yet succeeds in paying homage to its renowned predecessors.

"The C-XF - and the future generations of sports sedans it signals - reaffirms the direction Jaguar is taking," said Wallis Dumper, the Managing Director of Motorcorp Distributors, the New Zealand importer and distributor of Jaguar Cars. "When we launched the new XK sports car series, we promised that new Jaguars would be beautiful, fast, glamorous and evocative. The new XK delivered on that promise and the C-XF proves that these same values and more are coming in future Jaguar sedan cars."

The C-XF is a confident statement of design purity and efficiency. It possesses a sense of latent power that conveys dynamism and movement even when the car is stationary.

The C-XF's design team took inspiration from some of Founder Sir William Lyons' greatest cars, including the 1950 Mark VII and 1959 Mark 2 saloons. Their beautiful flowing lines were influenced by some of the great sporting Jaguars of the era including the XK120 and both display that extraordinary feeling of latent power that so signifies a Jaguar.

Ensuring that C-XF, while still a sedan, possessed the sporting profile expected of every Jaguar required maximum design efficiency - the whole exterior 'skin' had to be as tight as possible to the body architecture. This focussed the Jaguar design team on creating a car as the absolute definition of athleticism, a performance-oriented sports sedan that is still inherently practical and capable of carrying four people in total comfort.

C-XF has a taut beauty, but it is also a car that will challenge people's preconceptions about Jaguar; it has an edginess that exudes a sense of underlying menace.

"Jaguars should be perceived as cool cars," says Ian Callum, "and cool cars attract interesting, edgy people. The next generations of Jaguars will do just that."

Set into the front of the C-XF is a bold and aggressive grille finished in black chrome. Recessed deeply into the body rather than sitting flush with the surface, the visual effect is similar to that of an air intake on a jet engine and serves as a reminder that directly behind is a sophisticated and powerful 4.2-litre supercharged V8 engine.

Running backwards from the nose of the C-XF is the main feature line of the car - an unbroken shoulder that flows beneath the cabin glass line and into the haunch over the rear wheel. A similarly simple line can also be seen on the new XK range and is one of the design cues that will carry forward onto the next generation of Jaguars.

Design Director Ian Callum describes the cabin of the C-XF concept car as "one of the most exciting interiors Jaguar has ever done".

One of the keys to any Jaguar interior is that occupants should feel as if they are enclosed in the car, not sitting on it. The C-XF's interior embraces the passengers exactly that way.

The focal point of the interior is a sweeping brushed aluminium facia that wraps around the cabin in a dynamic linear graphic that instils a sense of velocity. The counterpoint to the aluminium is a combination of leather and wood that takes detail of finish to a new level.

Behind the single-spoke steering wheel with 'floating' gear-selector paddles for the six speed automatic gearbox, sits a dial cluster that has been inspired by the cockpit of an airplane. The main central dial - the rev counter - has graphics reminiscent of an artificial horizon instrument from an aircraft. The dials also respond to the way C-XF is being driven. If the driver puts the transmission into sporting Dynamic mode, the rev counter motors outwards (in the way a long lens on an SLR camera operates), ensuring its increased prominence.

And the technology advances continue with the electrical architecture for the 4.2-litre engine encased in a unique carbon-fibre wiring 'loom'.

The C-XF is the first car ever to use Beru F1 System's unique Wire in Composite (WIC) technology.

Jaguar C-XF Summary

• The C-XF is not just another concept car - it is much more than that.

• The exterior design is pure, athletic and, of course, beautiful.

• The striking interior design uses traditional materials, but fashioned in new and contemporary ways.

• The four-seat cabin - sufficiently spacious but not a bland, featureless expanse - is a welcoming, rewarding place to be.

• The technologies and innovations are typical of the features on a Jaguar - and preview others that are still under development.

• The powertrain - a supercharged V8 of proven excellence and a sophisticated six-speed automatic that delivers lightning-quick manual gear changes thanks to the Jaguar Sequential Shift System - is perfectly suited to a true sports sedan.

• The sum of the C-XF parts is impressive enough, but the whole - an exciting, modern, dynamic sports sedan that evokes absolute desire - is an extraordinary preview of the Jaguars of tomorrow.

"The Jaguar C-XF concept is the most dynamic and modern four-door car that Jaguar has ever created, a design showcase heralding the next generations of our sports sedan models. It signals a future for Jaguar that is as exciting as the C-XF itself." Ian Callum, Design Director, Jaguar Cars.

ENDS

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