2004 Jaguar XJ

Say aluminum a few times, out loud, the way the British do—a-lu-MIN-ium—and then you'll be ready for a JAG-u-ar. Soon, you won't use the American pronunciation again, and you shouldn't, because the new, lightweight, aluminum and speedy Jaguar XJ8 and its even quicker companion, the XJR, are seven leagues ahead of the six Jaguar sedan models that preceded them.


Aluminum body panels aren't new in the automotive business, even to Jaguar. The first two hundred or so XK120 roadsters were alloy cars, in part because company founder, Sir William Lyons, was unsure how many of them would sell, and he wanted to minimize tooling costs. But back in 1949, enthusiasts who were hungry for real sports cars snapped up every one. New dies were struck and subsequent XKs were paneled in steel.

The 2004 XJs look sleek and modern?with gently lofted rooflines that help increase interior room substantially.

The weight-saving and strength properties of aluminum have long been attractive to automakers, even if the metal's relatively higher production investment and materiel cost has not. Astutely, Jaguar has built a new aluminum stamping plant at Castle Bromwich. After an annoying and costly learning-curve delay, they're now quietly, accurately and cleanly stamping out alloy XJ panels. When you ask Jaguar chief engineer David Scholes if this means that some day all Jaguars will have alloy bodies, he just smiles.


Meanwhile credit Jaguar for making aluminum work in a volume production sedan. (Audi's alloy-bodied A8, while a pioneering effort, didn't offer much of a weight savings.) The company claims, not surprisingly, that the new XJ is "the most advanced production Jaguar ever." The aluminum monococque body is assembled with rivet bonding (3,200 rivets) and heat-cured adhesives (394 feet worth) using state-of-the-art construction and technology borrowed from the aircraft industry. It's reportedly some 60 percent stiffer and 40 percent lighter than the car it replaces. As a bonus, the new XJ8 is some 200+ pounds lighter than the old model, and Jaguar claims it's up to 570 pounds lighter than comparable rivals, positively affecting performance, fuel economy, emissions and safety. When Jaguar's engineers planned their new car, they realized that with all their desired changes, but built conventionally in steel, the new XJ would simply be too heavy. That's what dictated the aluminum initiative. The proof, in polished alloy, made a dazzling debut at the Paris Auto Show last October.


The company's former chief designer, the late Geoff Lawson, used to say of himself and his staff, that the sleek, really feline design cues of a Jaguar were etched in their heads, so they didn't need to have the outgoing model in the studio for reference. Design timetables are long, so although Geoff's been gone for several years, his influence, about two-thirds of the design, was there at the start of this car. Although Jaguar's new chief designer, Ian Callum (a talented stylist who earlier penned the Aston-Martin DB7), inherited Lawson's initial work, he and his team have done a masterful job of updating Jaguar's flagship, but in subtle ways. The new XJ shares no panels with its predecessor. Position the two cars side-by-side and the 2004 looks sleek and modern—with a gently lofted roofline that helps increase interior room substantially. Callum cheerfully touts his car's contemporary "wedge" shape. The old model, while still handsome, is undeniably dated.