Jaguar’s first SUV
I can just imagine the thoughts of Jaguar club members the world over upon reading my headline. “What is this nonsense?” they might exclaim, perhaps in a slightly proper English accent.
You see the mere thought of Jaguar, the most traditional of English saloon and sports cars, producing a vehicle with such a vulgar amount of ground clearance will have old blokes choking up cognac all over their tweed jackets.
Rightly so in my humble opinion, but perhaps I am of the old school in this debate. Jaguar on the other hand is on a drive to move into the 21st century, as shown by the debut of the company’s first ever sports crossover concept vehicle – the C-X17 – at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show.
So what is the C-X17 all about? Well from the outside it’s about combining all the best elements of Jaguar’s current line-up, only in a much bigger package; being 4.7m long and 1.63m tall makes it considerably more voluminous than anything else Jaguar has produced before. That grille is right off the luxurious XJ sedan; the headlights are all XF; while the rear haunches and taillights are a not so subtle hint to the delicious new F-Type. Finished here in a lustrous Caesium Blue you’d be hard pressed to think of a better looking SUV.
Ian Callum, Jaguar’s design director, threw the boat out a bit more with the interior. Well, a lot more actually. The interior of the C-X17 features four individual bucket seats, which are luxuriously appointed, yet designed for a sculpted, lightweight appearance. The car’s unique roof features contoured vanes that provide a distinctive ‘elliptical’ panoramic view to the passengers. But the technology is where things start to come alive.
A centre tunnel running the length of the car, from the instrument panel through to the rear passenger seats, incorporates the Interactive Surface Console – an interactive multi-passenger infotainment hub with a series of touchscreens under a continuous panel of transparent acrylic glass, which in conjunction with the secure in-car wi-fi network provides access to the outside world including all the social media mainstays – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. The cool bit is how the content can be passed between front and rear seat occupants with a flick of the wrist.
The big picture side of the C-X17 is probably the most important however, as the developments here will be felt in production with almost immediate effect. The C-X17 has been created as a design study to introduce Jaguar’s all-new advanced aluminium monocoque architecture, codenamed iQ[Al]. What this means is that Jaguar has undergone a complete redesign of all the hard bits underneath their cars, from scratch.
The aluminium-intensive architecture will be modular and scalable, providing a high degree of flexibility and making it possible to produce a wider bandwidth of models and derivatives than ever before. It is lightweight, extremely stiff and incorporates innovative technologies that emphasises Jaguar’s commitment to sustainability, such as a new high-strength alloy made from almost 100% recycled raw material.
You’ll see it first on Jaguar’s new BMW 3/Audi A4/Mercedes C rival in about 18 months’ time, followed by the SUV itself. While I remain unconvinced by the idea of a 4×4 Jaguar, it is almost a no-brainer for the company. All their rivals are taking advantage of the world-wide phenomenon that is the SUV, so why not follow suit? Especially when you consider they can draw on expertise from their sister company, a small crowd called Land Rover, who may know a thing or two about luxury off-roading.
First published in Autodealer KZN