Monday 22 October 2007

Big cat spotting in Coventry

Coventry isn’t the most glamorous of places but if you want to spot Jaguars, particularly new and not yet released Jaguars it is the place to be. Over the years I’ve been in Coventry I’ve seen prototypes of the XK8, XJ8, S-type and X-type.

Today I wish I had been able to take a photograph of a distinctly non-standard looking S-type. Wide of track and apparently held together by sticky tape I wonder if it was a development mule for the XF or a sporting XF-R.

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I also caught a glimpse of an XF; the more I see the XF the more I like it. It succeeds in looking like a Jaguar without looking like any past Jaguar. There is a strong link to the current XK, which is no bad thing. If, as some people complain, it looks like a Lexus GS then remember that the first Lexus GS took its shape from a Jaguar design study by Giugiaro.

Style-wise all new Jaguars are overshadowed by what I think is the best looking Jaguar of all, the 1975 XJ-C – the coupé version of the series 2 XJ saloon. There was a sober but slightly menacing, dark green XJ-C adding a touch of class to the morning traffic.

2 comments:

David Wilkins said...

It does look good, but when I saw it at the Frankfurt show, I was surprised at how, depending on the angle from which you view them, the lines of the Mondeo, XF and various Astons can appear surprsingly similar. Well, they were all developed under Ford, I suppose.

Fourwheelsteer said...

Doesn't necessarily say much for Jaguer's brand identity if it carries styling themes from other Ford group (or ex-Ford group) cars. But if it helps Jaguar move away from continually rehashing the 1967 XJ saloon then that's no bad thing.