Jaguar to lose oval grille

News

1 min read

8 December 2013

The current Jaguar XK will be the last model to feature the firm’s famed oval grille, design director Ian Callum has revealed.

All future Jaguars will instead feature a trapezoidal-shaped grille that’s more forceful and upright, as seen most recently in different interpretations on the Jaguar F-Type and C-X17.

Callum also said the firm would have to look at the role of the XK in its future line-up, following the arrival of the F-type. “A direction change is a valid question,” he said. “The XK will have a different job to do.”

It has previously been suggested that the XK would push upmarket into a larger and more luxurious GT car in its next generation, leaving the F-type to fill the role of Jaguar's full-blooded sports model.

Callum has previously told media that he did look at giving the F-type an oval grille, but decided against it has he wanted the model to represent change within the brand. He said the F-type's grille was inspired by the original Jaguar XJ.

Mark Tisshaw

Title: Editor

Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.

From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.

Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?, Move Electric and Pistonheads, and has written a column for The Sun.

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John C 12 December 2013

I like this, I think that

I like this, I think that this shape will be better . I'm following jaguar on www.warrenhenryjaguar.com and i hope for the best.

typos1 9 December 2013

A trapezoidal grille ? What

A trapezoidal grille ? What like a lot of other cars nowadays ? Shouldnt Jags look like Jags ? Like BMWs look like BMWs and Mers look, like Mercs etc. Hes already made Jags look like the offspring of a BMW/Lexus one night stand, clearly with this announcement hes gonna make sure new Jags still look like Lexuses, by copying their new grille. The man is talentless and simply the worst mainsteram car designer ever, sack him and get someone decent in Jaguar, for god's sake

Roadster 9 December 2013

No big issue

Jaguar's oval grille has only ever featured on its sportscars and in recent times, it's only adorned the XJ220, XK8 and XK. Prior to the XJ220, the E-Type was the last car to have the oval grille. The rectangular grille has been a Jaguar feature on its road cars for far longer, first appearing on the Mark X/420G of 1961 and it has slowly evolved since then through various XJs and the X-Type and Jaguar merely took the design back to basics with the XF. If the likes of Mercedes and Audi can evolve their grilles, or dispense with them on times on certain types of cars, why not Jaguar?

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