Jaguar has just unveiled its new XJ flagship to the public in a celebrity-filled extravaganza hosted by everyone's favorite car guy -- Jay Leno -- in London (watch the video below for the presentation). We got an embargoed sneak peek a bit ahead of time of the new Jag flagship, which is set to hit U.S. shores this December, beginning from the top floor of one of those photogenic English manors in the suburbs of London you see in Victorian-period-piece movies.
This location allowed design chief Ian Callum to show off the new luxury sedan's plan view and thus its most controversial feature, its piano-black trim. While piano black is almost a cliche on luxury-sedan dashboards, you don't find it outside...until now. The 2010 Jaguar XJ features a piece of the trim on the roof rails connecting the C-pillar to the other edge of the rear quarter-window.
Hot or Not? 2010 Chevy Camaro RS with factory accessories
Arrival: 2009 Jaguar XF Supercharged
S-type? What's an S-Type? Jaguar's luscious new XF four-door obliterates all memories of its Lincoln-based, J-gated predecessor. The XF, like the illustrious E-Type, is a real Jag. In last July's Motor Trend, the top-model, 420-horse XF Supercharged also dusted off rivals from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Lexus, handily winning our "Private Reserve Cabs" sport-lux comparo and inspiring every test driver to mutter, "We gotta get ourselves one of these."
So we did. A Liquid Silver XF Supercharged (with interior resplendent in "Spice/Char" soft-grain leather) has joined our long-term fleet. In barely a month, it's racked up more than 3400 miles.
Jaguar Files Patents for 2011 Jaguar C-XJ and C-XE Names
Jaguar has patented the words C-XJ and C-XE. What this means for us looking through the British pussycat’s cage is that two new concepts will soon be unveiled to the public. The one is of course the new 2011 XJ big daddy leaper which has been extensively spied on a number of occasions already. The second one is XE. Lots of guesses on this one, but a likely candidate is a smaller XK, something of a Porsche Boxster or BMW Z4 rival perhaps? Or just a step below XK, say something to rival a 911 instead. The X would be Jaguar’s way of labeling its cars, and the E stems from the classic E-Type. Others contend that it’s the X-Type replacement.
