Ben Pulman stumbles across the new Jag XF on his first day in a new job
A first day on the job is usually a letdown; all mind-numbing admin and IT problems. Not at CAR. My first (and second) day found me on the UK launch of the new Audi A5, and we’d taken along a couple of the big coupe’s rivals to ask a very interesting question – all of which you can read all about in next month’s CAR magazine.
Then when I thought life couldn’t get any better we were buzzed by first one, and then another, Jaguar XF prototype. When one parked up within full view of us we did what any good journalist would do; we went for a closer look.
This got me thinking. First, whatever V8 was under the bonnet sounded very good emanating from twin oblong exhausts. Secondly, whilst Jaguar may put its prototypes through hundreds of thousands of miles of heavy testing on the twisty roads of the UK (above), in the Arctic Circle, and in American deserts, the XF’s fate was decided a long time ago. Whether the car is the most reliable in class, or continues to handle as well as today’s S-type, its future – and that of Jaguar itself – was sealed when design boss Ian Callum signed off the project.
All recent Jags have been decent to drive (even the X-type), but most have been hamstrung by olde-worlde styling. If this XF doesn’t look fresh and modern then I believe Jaguar is dead in the water. And we should know more this week. Thursday 19 July is the deadline for any interested parties to express an interest in buying Jaguar and Land Rover, although today’s Guardian newspaper reckons Ford may be having second thoughts.
Ford posted a $12.7bn loss last year, and it hasn’t got long left to decide whether to hang on to its two premium British marques – and its profitable Swedish outpost, Volvo. With the production XF due to be unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, we’ll soon know how this intriguing plot will unravel…