Jay Leno: host at the Saatchi Gallery.

US chat show host and car enthusiast Jay Leno joined public figures, business leaders, celebrities and media guests for the official unveiling of the new Jaguar flagship at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea last night.

Jaguar’s new XJ is the company’s new four-door range-topper, available to order now (dependent on market), with the first customers due to receive their cars in early 2010. Prices start at £52,500 for the standard wheelbase 3.0-litre V6 diesel luxury.

Jaguar Cars managing director, Mike O'Driscoll told ModernSelling.com: ‘These are truly exciting times for us at Jaguar. The new XJ is truly beautiful, exhilarating to drive, and with its bold, enlightened approach to design, it meets the challenges of our fast-changing world. It re-imagines (what is this word – Ed?) the ultimate sporting luxury car.’

Daring new spirit

Described by Jaguar as ‘sleek, sporting and sophisticated’, the new XJ range ‘brings a daring new spirit to automotive luxury – it offers a seductive mix of striking design, breathtaking performance and engineering without compromise’.

New Jaguar XJ: from £52,500.

Design director Ian Callum added: ‘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, that powerful stance and its wide track. It is the most emphatic statement yet of Jaguar’s new design direction.’

Panorama

An innovative new panoramic glass roof is an integral part of the all-new XJ’s design concept, enabling the car to have a lower, more streamlined roofline, while ‘dramatically enhancing the feeling of light and space inside’.

Standard- and long-wheelbase models are available from launch. The long-wheelbase offers more space for rear-seat passengers with an additional 125mm of legroom. Whichever the wheelbase, the XJ’s 520-litre boot can swallow two large suitcases side-by-side.

The all-new XJ's cabin aims to blend elegant, contemporary design with comfort, luxury and sporting style of a Jaguar: chrome and piano black detailing contrasts with leather and veneer surfaces.

Specs

To complement the new cabin design is a level of choice in colours, veneers and leathers not seen before in a Jaguar. Three specification levels – Luxury, Premium Luxury and Portfolio – allow the customer to tailor the car to suit their tastes. Beyond this are the Supercharged and the top-of-the-range Supersport, the latter providing a specification that includes a leather roof-lining, semi-aniline leather seats and veneers with laser inlays.

All of Jaguar's new Gen III petrol and diesel engines will be available in the XJ. The 3.0-litre V6 diesel, 5.0-litre naturally aspirated V8 and 5.0-litre supercharged V8 are joined by a 470 horsepower version of the supercharged engine. Fuel economy and emissions are also credible, with the diesel-powered XJ returning combined economy figures of 40.1mpg and CO2 emissions of 184g/km.

Ride and handling

The new models feature air suspension, ‘adaptive dynamics’ (continuously variable damping), ‘active differential control’ and quick-ratio power steering to ‘deliver the blend of responsive, dynamic handling and refined, supple ride expected from a Jaguar’.

Gadgets

Back inside the car, the environment is more akin to a ‘state-of-the-art living space than a simple car cabin’ thanks to new technology, according to the company.  That remains to be seen, but Jaguar’s designers have incorporated some useful gadgetry, including 12.3 inch high-definition virtual instruments along with dual-view technology eight-inch touch-screen that can project DVD movies or television programmes to the passenger while the driver views vehicle functions or follows satellite navigation.

Premium surround sound options include the top-of-the-range 1200W Bowers & Wilkins system, which is comparable in audio quality to the best in-home entertainment. Advanced infotainment features also include hard drive-based audio and navigation systems, and comprehensive connectivity for portable audio and video devices via the Media Hub.

Sustainable approach

Jaguar says that its latest offering also takes a new approach to sustainable motoring. Constructed using aerospace-inspired aluminium body technology, the XJ is lighter than its rivals by at least 150kg which significantly improves performance, handling and economy, while delivering increased strength, refinement and safety.

The lightweight aluminium structure – with 50% recycled material – underpinned by a lifecycle approach to vehicle design and manufacture, enables the new XJ to reduce its carbon footprint, creating a potential saving of three tonnes of CO2 per vehicle, compared with a bodyshell made from new aluminium.

Cost of ownership

Jaguar says the new XJ offers extremely attractive cost of ownership with ‘impressive fuel economy and emissions performance across the range’; high ‘predicted’ residual values and 15,000-mile service intervals. It says these benefits are just some of the results of its ‘obsessive attention to detail’ during product development. Processes such as the use of the latest ‘virtual’ technologies to implement 40,000 quality-specific assessments are one of the reasons that the Jaguar brand has received numerous recognitions for vehicle quality.

UK on-the-road price

Model                                                     Standard Wheelbase   Long Wheelbase
XJ 3.0 V6 Diesel Luxury                       £52,500                      £55,500
XJ 3.0 V6 Diesel Premium Luxury       £55,900                       £58,900
XJ 3.0 V6 Diesel Portfolio                    £62,900                       £65,900
XJ 5.0 n/a V8 Petrol Premium Luxury £62,900                       £65,900
XJ 5.0 n/a V8 Petrol Portfolio              £69,900                       £72,900
XJ 5.0 s/c V8 Petrol Supersport          £85,000                       £88,000

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