Stars left swooning at Jaguar’s saloon

Ahead of its global debut at the New York Motor Show 2015, Jaguar has revealed the second generation of its sporting XF saloon at a special preview event.

At the VIP event attended by the likes of Emmy-nominated actress Christina Hendricks, model David Gandy, and supermodel-turned-TV presenter Jodie Kidd, Jaguar pulled the wraps off the updated saloon, which features a new exterior, hi-tech cabin, and updated mechanicals.

On the outside, the XF offers an evolutionary design and shares some features with its smaller stablemate, the XE. Shorter in overall length, but with a longer wheelbase, the XF retains its athletic and sporting looks, while offering improvements in cabin space and luggage capacity at the same time.

Inside, the all-new cabin has a sophisticated TFT display for both the instrument cluster and touchscreen system, and Jaguar is promising a much-advanced system providing seamless connection with mobile devices, intelligent apps, and the ability to configure the system to the driver’s requirements. It also keeps the trademark rotating air vents and rotary gear selector.

Underneath the skin, the XF benefits from a similar suspension set-up to the impressive F-Type, and improvements in the use of aluminium and magnesium in the chassis help to save weight over the outgoing model by as much as 190kg. A revised engine line-up includes two petrol and two diesel engines, including the headline-grabbing Ingenium diesel offering the potential for 71mpg and 104g/km of CO2.

Speaking at the launch, Ian Callum, director of design at Jaguar, said: “I believe the all-new XF is the best looking car in its class. Elegant, handsome, and with proportions that imbue a great sense of integrity, the all-new XF is true to the great tradition of sporting Jaguar saloons while being completely of its time.”

The XF range will consist of: XF Pure/ SE, XF Prestige, XF R-Sport, XF Portfolio, and XF S.

The powertrain range will consist of: 163PS and 180PS 2.0-litre diesel manual and automatic; RWD, 240PS 2.0-litre petrol automatic; RWD, 300PS 3.0-litre diesel automatic; RWD and AWD, 340PS and 380PS 3.0-litre petrol automatic.

Manufactured at Jaguar Land Rover’s Castle Bromwich Plant, the XF joins the Jaguar saloon car range between the XE and XJ model lines.