Jaguar launches new XJ

Jaguar officially unveiled its all-new XJ car at a glitzy show at the Saatchi Gallery in London last night.

The car manufacturer has been sending out little teasers for the last few months helping to build up the hype around the launch and to be fair the design on the new car is quite a departure from the old model.

The new XJ comes with a panoramic glass roof, which Jaguar says enables the car to have a lower, more streamlined roofline, while at the same time enhancing the feeling of light and space inside.

Space seems to have been an issue the designers of the new XJ have sought to address, previous models have felt slightly cramped in the rear while the boot has always felt a bit small. The new model comes in either standard or long-wheelbase(LWB) form with the LWB model being designed to offer more comfort to rear-seat passengers with an additional 125mm of legroom.

Meanwhile, the boot comes in at 520-litres whichever model you might opt for, which should be enough for two large suitcases.

As for the interior Jaguar says advanced new technologies have allowed its designers to create "an environment more akin to a state-of-the-art living space than a simple car cabin."

This "living space" includes a 12.3-inch high-definition virtual instrument display and a dual-view technology 8-inch touch-screen that can project DVD movies or television programmes to the passenger while the driver views vehicle functions or follows satellite navigation

Jaguar Cars managing director, Mike O'Driscoll, said: "These are truly exciting times for us at Jaguar. The new XJ is truly beautiful, exhilarating to drive, and with its bold, enlightened approach to design, it meets the challenges of our fast-changing world. It re-imagines the ultimate sporting luxury car."

This may all be true but whether you've got the £52,500 to shell out on the car may be another matter right now. And that's just for the standard wheelbase 3.0 litre V6 diesel. There is also the 5.0-litre V8 and 5.0-litre supercharged V8 not to mention a 470 horsepower version of the supercharged engine.

Then there's the environmental element that comes into all of this with 50 per cent of the new XJ being made of up of recycled aluminium, which Jaguar believes enables the new XJ to minimise its carbon footprint, while also making the car lighter and therefore more fuel efficient and more responsive in terms of performance.

The new XJ is available to order now with the first customers expected to receive their cars in early 2010.