New Jaguar XJ on the way. But what will it look like?

2016 Jaguar XJ. Will the 2018 XJ be more conservative?

Jaguar design guru Ian Callum has confirmed a new Jaguar XJ is in JLR’s plans, but will it be more conservative than the current XJ?

To no one’s great surprise, Jaguar chief designer Ian Callum has confirmed in conversation with Autocar that a new Jaguar XJ is currently being planned. But what will it offer?

Jaguar bravely took the XJ down a new, design-driven, route when it arrived in 2009, a route that many thought was sacrilege after nearly 40 years of XJs that all looked much the same.

Whether Jaguar consider the XJ to have been the success they hoped for is hard to work out; despite offering a very different take on luxury motoring than competition like the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes S-Class, it’s not come close to selling anything like the numbers the Germans do. Which is a shame.

It’s a shame because the XJ is probably the most fun drive of any, it has the wonderful cocooned cabin you hope for in a Jaguar, and a great take on a modern interpretation of a traditional Jaguar interior. But it has its flaws.

There were reliability issues with the XJ early on (and some continuing niggles remain, with batteries losing charge, sunroofs creaking and groaning, and odd electrical glitches), the electronic dashboard has always been more Atari than OLED and the back seat is cramped; even in the LWB XJ there’s a paucity of headroom.

But, certainly to our eyes, the XJ looks great and now, seven years in to its life, it still looks modern and contemporary. It’s a design that’s aged remarkably well, and it’s still our favourite luxury car.

Ian Callum says the next XJ will still be design-led, but we’re not so sure. Callum admits there’s a push within JLR to make the next XJ more ‘practical’ – which no doubt means more room in the cabin – which probably means the next XJ will look more like an enlarged XF rather than a standalone design.

Whether a more traditional design will make the XJ sell better than it does is hard to say. Perhaps having pushed the design envelope with the current XJ – and in the process escaped the legacy of the 1960s XJ – will allow Jaguar to be more conservative with the next XJ and still succeed? But what Jaguar mustn’t do is lose the USP the XJ has in the process – it’s individuality and driver appeal.

No doubt, over the next 18 months or so before the XJ’s replacement starts to become clear, we’ll find out how much more ‘traditional’ the bean counters force the next XJ to be.