That said, Callum and company’s XJ, even six years after its auto-show debut and in its lowest trim level, has enough form, grace, and presence that Jaguar needn’t bother itself with spinning off a four-door “coupe” variant-as Audi does with its A7/S7 and Mercedes with its CLS-class based on the E-class. In that context, the updates to the rear-LED taillamps and oval exhaust outlets-could have gone further to amp up the Jaguar-ness of this model when viewed from behind. There’s room for some bold nonconformist designer to put aesthetics ahead of boldly trumpeting brand identity, but it’s not likely to be Jaguar design chief Ian Callum while his firm is so busy trying to expand its visibility. The new “double J” LED daytime running lamps keep the XJ looking current with the flood of newer Jaguar designs, and the whole face of the car stays in step with current marketing obsessions with overstated “signature” grilles. LOWS: Infotainment system glitches, limited trim options. HIGHS: Sounds as lovely as it looks, sporty driving character in a roomy four-door, very comfortable. ![]() We’d save the $500 and go with the standard configuration, which better distinguishes the XJR from the rest of the family. The black trim treatment was offset on this example with an optional Chrome package that makes the grille glossy rather than flat black, trims it with a chrome surround (standard is gloss black), and restores chrome in place of the XJR’s black side-window accents and fender vents. The revised front end has a more upright grille, also fully blacked out with a big Jaguar “growler” badge at its center, set between adaptive LED headlights with automatic high-beam control. But it worked with the XJR’s fresh-for-2016 black trim package, giving the car a Star Wars storm-trooper aura: menacing, with just enough glint in the paint (as opposed to the non-metallic Polaris White alternative) to offset any cheap action-figure overtones. White wouldn’t be our first choice for a car with so much personality it reminds us of laundry appliances more than it evokes British sporting heritage. The XJR we tested showed up wearing Glacier White metallic paint. The point of this test, really, is another new thing for 2016: The supercharged V-8 engine is now available in an XJR with the standard-length wheelbase it formerly was offered only on the XJL chassis, which stretches some five inches longer. The XJR, especially, is tasked with squaring off against the most expressive, driver-oriented luxury sedans, including not just the Maserati and Porsche but the Audi S8, the Mercedes-AMG S63, and (soon) the BMW M760i. If there were room for incremental sales expansion in this niche over the past few years, it would appear those two benefited more than Jaguar did.Ī midterm update for 2016 brings styling tweaks to the front and rear, some packaging alterations, and installation of Jaguar’s latest infotainment and electronic systems. Jaguar’s strong suit, a sportier appearance and driving character than the German traditionalists offer, now finds competition from the Maserati Quattroporte and the Porsche Panamera. The Benz alone sells at six times the XJ’s monthly pace. Gaining traction in this arena has been complicated by the arrival of fresh iterations of the segment’s biggest guns, the Audi A8, BMW 7-series, and Mercedes-Benz S-class. Actually, after a one-year surge to more than 5400 sales in 2013, Jaguar found fewer than 3700 XJ buyers in 2015. That’s all for the good, considering that Jaguar’s expectation, when it introduced this generation of its XJ in 2013, that it would expand its market share in the premium-luxury sedan segment has come to naught so far. The real quest for more sales rests in the latter and, especially, in the also new F-Pace crossover at the same time, the XJ’s role as the marque’s image leader has been at least partly usurped by the F-type sports car. While the XJ was for a time the closest thing Jaguar had to a “volume” model, it’s now just the largest and most expensive of three sedans the brand currently offers, one rung above the mid-size XF and two steps above the new entry-level XE. ![]() ![]() Jaguar’s hopes for a major increase in North American sales no longer rest as heavily on the appeal of its XJ flagship sedan, nor do its high-performance credentials depend solely on the 550-horsepower XJR model tested here.
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