18 April 2025 | General News
The website, originally founded by motoring writer Keith Adams, provides fascinating insights into countless British models – with the Jaguar XF story also featuring early development photographs and stylists’ sketches.
It was in the autumn of 2007 that the production-ready XF took a bow, following on from the C-XF concept car previously unveiled at the start of the year. The link between the two was obvious, with the XF hitting the market as a svelte four-door with almost a coupe-like profile. The styling differences between it and its S-Type predecessor couldn’t have been more stark.
As Keith Adams explains in his development story, the XF was “more than a new car – it was a full reboot of an iconic brand”. It redefined the future of Jaguar, influencing its next-generation aesthetics – from the ‘X351’ XJ of 2009 to the later SUVs that debuted via the F-Pace of 2015.
At the time of the XF’s official launch, Jaguar’s director of design, Ian Callum, stated: “Jaguars have to be beautiful cars. Just making different cars with different ideas would be very easy – the real challenge is to make cars that are different and beautiful.”
Embracing a dramatic move away from the S-Type’s retro-inspired looks, the stylish XF became an instant hit for Jaguar, achieving healthy sales of more than 200,000 units worldwide during the first-gen model’s eight-year career. Its appeal was expanded in 2012 when the eagerly awaited estate – the XF Sportbrake – finally took a bow.
Initial plans for the XF to feature a brand new all-aluminium monocoque were shelved due to the urgent need to launch an S-Type successor. Instead, the XF arrived using the same DEW98 platform as its predecessor (also shared with the Lincoln LS), albeit in heavily modified guise.
To read Keith Adams’ full development story of the Jaguar XF online, accompanied by some fascinating images showing what might have been, head to www.aronline.co.uk/concepts-and-prototypes/jaguar-x250/
