XJ completes the puzzle

Jaguar has passed through more design phases than even a 75-year history rightly warrants.

Up until the 1970s, the British prestige car maker was lauded for its styling, possibly best exemplified at its height by the Series 1 XJ and the E-Type sports car.

Then there was the period that Leyland owned the company, during which the XJ went through a succession of facelifts and the E-Type was replaced by the much-maligned XJ-S.

Post-Leyland, Jaguar focused more on engineering and build quality, arguably leaving style on the shelf. Ford bought the company and set it on a retro styling path, which was popular in the American market at the time.

With the release of the second-generation XK in 2004, followed by the XF and now the new XJ, it's official; the retro look at Jaguar is no more.

Designed by Ian Callum, the new XJ features styling traits aimed at recalling Jaguars past -- particularly the original Series 1 XJ from 1968. The new car incorporates many styling cues from the XF; its grille is more upright, along the same lines as the car from 1968.

There are sculpture lines and a power bulge in the bonnet, plus a low roofline and rising beltline which also recall the original XJ. Callum has also developed what he refers to as a boat-like 'flying bridge' look around the roof, created by the blacked-out C pillars. And the vertical tail lights are intended to resemble claw marks from a cat. It's a design that works very well when viewed in person, but what does it say about Jaguar's design strategy?

The Carsales Network asked Jaguar Australia's Marketing and Public Affairs Manager, Mark Eedle to comment on the company's design and how it has impacted sales and brand image. According to Eedle, the Callum look is a natural progression from the retro look previously a hallmark of Jaguar design. The XJ, in particular, conveys many of the styling traits applied to the original XJ, but bundles those traits in a very contemporary package, unlike its immediate (X350) predecessor. He feels that Jaguar can convert those buyers who like the retro look to appreciate the new design language.

"There will always be some people who are very fixed on the type or style of car that they want -- and maybe those people will be more difficult to convert... but I would suggest that Jaguar owners look for individuality. They look for what the Jaguar brand stands for and what we're seeing with the 'beautiful fast car design' language that we now have in the XK, XF and in the all-new XJ...

"[It's] a series of cars that represent what Jaguar is. Owners of some of the more retro-styled cars, if they've bought into the Jaguar ethos, then this [design language] is exactly what they're looking for, because they want to go on the journey with us.

"So I would suggest that the majority of owners who purchased or own the more retro-style cars, with their Jaguar family mentality -- it's very much taking them on a journey: 'It took me on a retro journey, now I can appreciate what you're doing with the brand, what you're doing with the design, I can see in this new design where you have paid homage to the classic Jaguars -- but I do like the contemporary styling that you're now doing'. So I would suggest the majority will happily be coming on a journey with us."

That the new XJ does actually incorporate visual traits from the past, but in a modern style -- sort of a credible progression from the retro fad -- could be difficult to explain easily to prospect Jaguar buyers; a concern we put to Eedle.

"[There] are some very traditional Jaguar hallmarks, such as the Lyons line, such as the swoop, such as even from the front -- you've got the four ripples on the bonnet for the headlights -- such as the power bulge down the centre of the bonnet...

"There are a lot of cues in the car. Yes though, people may need it explained, but it's fundamentally quite a simple explanation. And once you do have it explained, you go 'right, gotcha'."

And how will Jaguar Australia impart that explanation then?

"I think a lot of it's through the sales people," Eedle suggested.

"We have a very, very good group of sales consultants and sales managers in our dealerships and they go through all the training for the new car. And part of that, obviously, we talk about the design, because the... design strategy is central to where the Jaguar brand has been going and where it will continue to go in the coming years.

"It's making the cars look very different to what they're used to, when you compare XF and XJ to their predecessors, so it's very important our sales staff can explain: 'this is still a Jaguar with classic Jaguar design cues in it, but it's a contemporary version of it'. So we make sure they understand why this is still a Jaguar..."

Not everyone will agree, but Jaguar sales of the XJ should pick up considerably, with buyers stunned by the car's new look. Does this mean that, at best the retro look diluted the company's brand image and, at worst damaged it?

"I don't think there was damage done," Eedle responded.

"What we maybe didn't do was introduce a contemporary look sooner. So when S-Type came out, when X-Type came out, when the previous model XJ came out -- over the last 10, 11 years -- it wasn't that we had moved away from a contemporary design for that era, it was more that we continued to do a traditional styling and we simply hadn't introduced a contemporary [look].

"So I don't think it was a case of damage, because there wasn't an image that we had moved away from. I would suggest that it was more a delay in introducing a new contemporary design... which was first seen with the XK in 2006, then the XF two years ago and now with the all-new XJ.

"So I would hesitate to say we damaged anything, I would more position it that we simply delayed the introduction of a new, contemporary image. Now that we've launched the... XJ, we have a portfolio of cars that are all the latest design language from Jaguar and very much represent what Jaguar is today -- and going forwards."

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