NEW XF knowing why. Look

NEW XF knowing why. Look for the gentle ‘fluting’ that runs back into the XF’s bonnet from the headlamps – a hallmark of Jaguar saloons of the past – but also a way to capture arrowheads of light on the bonnet to catch your eye. Or best of all perhaps, the ‘spear of light’: the line that flows back from around the front wheel arches and along the body side, emphasising the more level waistline of this more formal saloon. “The Mark II had this lovely line coming over the front wheel, and going all the way to the rear,” says Hatton. “We’re just reinterpreting that in a very modern way. Ian christened it ‘the spear of light’. You can see how that curve is absolutely perfect. It tapers off really nicely, to the rear. It gives that very elegant Britishness to the car. It also slims the car down even further. The XF is lightweight, and our job is to show that in the design of the exterior.” Callum and his team have married perfect stance and proportion with clever, subtle detailing. The XF again displays Callum’s insistence on a design with a voluptuous view from directly above, which in turn causes your perception of the car’s form to shift as you move around it at street level. But design doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Just as the XF’s design has been helped by its aluminium construction, so the design team helped Jaguar’s engineers and aerodynamicists to create – jointly with the new XE – the most aerodynamic Jaguar ever with a drag coefficient of just 0.26. Combine that slippery shape with the highly-efficient new Ingenium four-cylinder diesel engine, a weight saving of around 200kg, and further fuel-saving advances like the new electric power steering, and you will be able to specify a new XF that will emit as little as 104g of CO2 for every kilometre travelled. “That’s a big story with the new XF,” says Callum. “We worked with the aero guys right from the first sketch. If you do it holistically, and just try to make the whole car as aerodynamic as possible, you end up with something amorphous. Instead, we work the details, managing the airflow through the car and around the car, like a racecar engineer would. That way you get a much better result, both for design and efficiency.” They both know they’ve got that perfect result: a new car that unites Jaguar’s now-expected design leadership with astonishing new technology and an extraordinary breadth of performance. Hatton supervises our photoshoot and also the early viewing of the car. It’s often a nervous moment, but he’s relaxed. “You know, it’s not so easy to create a car that doesn’t have an unflattering angle,” he says. “But I’m convinced that you couldn’t take a bad photograph of the XF.” Official fuel economy figures for the Jaguar New Jaguar XF range remain subject to official manufacturer’s tests in accordance with EU legislation. 24 j THE DYNAMIC ISSUE

“WE WORKED WITH THE AERO GUYS RIGHT FROM THE FIRST SKETCH. THAT WAY YOU GET A MUCH BETTER RESULT, BOTH FOR DESIGN AND EFFICIENCY” Ian Callum, director of design SIXTH SENSE The glazed diagonal C-pillar above, emphasises from the outside the extra room in the rear cabin and the lightness of the XF’s structure. Inside, the additional sense of space and quantity of light flowing over your shoulder is greater than you’d expect too.