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Next Jag S-type spied
04 January 2007
Jaguar has only this week released pictures of its forward-looking C-XF concept, but Autocar can already bring you spy pictures of the production saloon that it will sire.
This is the XF saloon, under heavy disguise, caught just as it left Jaguar's technical centre at Whitley, Coventry earlier this week. The four-door S-type replacement is still a year from UK showrooms, which explains why the cladding on the car's nose and tail is so extensive. However, even through the disguise, you can clearly recognise the C-XF concept's near-square, inset radiator grille, distinctive headlights, curved rump, moulded exhaust pipes and hockey-stick taillight design.
Elsewhere on the car, it's difficult to see how many of the C-XF's signature design cues are on this production mule. Take a look at the car's body side in our gallery and you'll see the C-XF's deeply-set 'light-catcher' line, just below the doors, is in evidence; its hidden door handles and shrunken door mirrors aren't. Expect the evocative wing vents behind the front wheels to feature on the production car, since they're becoming a recurrent theme in both Jaguar and Land Rover design, but since they're covered up on this mule, confirmation of that will have to wait until later.
Under the skin, the S-type replacement is likely to use refined and developed mechanicals derived from those of the current car, rather than an all-new platform. That means it'll be steel, rather than aluminium, similar in its exterior and interior dimensions to the current car, and feature developments of the current car's four-strong engine range, with the possible addition of the new 3.6-litre V8 diesel later in the model's life, after it has been included under the bonnet of the current XJ limousine.
Find out more about the Jaguar C-XF concept in Autocar's Detroit motor show coverage next week
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