New Jaguar XJ snapped at the Nurburgring

Jaguar are just months away from revealing the all new Jaguar XJ range (on July 9th in London), and we recently had a ‘teaser’ release of  pictures and video from Jaguar (not forgetting our ‘best Jaguar XJ’ photo). And ahead of the launch Jaguar have been giving the new XJ a shakedown at the Nurburgring, which was caught by our snappers.

The new Jaguar XJ is a huge deal for Jaguar. Jaguar has set the benchmark very high with its hugely successful, and widely acclaimed, Jaguar XF, and expectations for the new XJ are riding high. And rumour has it that the XJ will be an even more radical departure for Jaguar than the XF was.

As we already know, the new XJ will get the Gen III range of engines, which are some of the best in the business. The 3.0 litre turbo diesel is an absolute gem, and will no doubt account for the lion’s share of sales. The normally aspirated V8 will be bought by Jaguar traditionalists who want ‘Pace, Space & Grace’ but the power fiends (yes please) will be jumping in to the XJR, the 510bhp monster that will hopefully teach the Germans how to build an uber-saloon. The talk is there may even be a ‘Super XJR’ – now that would be something.

The front end and lights are pretty XF-like, but we think the back is going to get a set of ultra-modern LEDs, which will also probably feature as ‘pretties’ at the front. Inside, although still wood and leather, will be very high-tec, and feature a wide range of new features, including the XJ version of the XF’s gearchange arrangement.

Jaguar are aiming to push the high-end Jaguar XJs in to Bentley territory. It’s looking good so far.