Friday 10th June 2005

Jag tweaks S and X-Types

New body kits designed to look more sporty

---

Jaguar has added optional body kits for the S-Type and X-Type Estate. Dubbed the 'Sports Collection', they debut at the Canary Wharf Motor Show next week.

S-Type

The kit adds black front upper and lower grilles and a rear lower black mesh grille, lowered side sill appliqués and new front and rear lower valances.

The 'Sports Collection' S-Type also gets a new front valance with chrome bezels around the fog lights, a more pronounced rear boot lid spoiler as well as new exhaust tailpipe finishers, plus new 18-inch Proteus alloy wheels.

Jaguar design director Ian Callum said, "We wanted to design a range of accessory products to visually emphasise the stance and presence of the S-Type. The enhancements we have made for the S-Type body styling package give the car a more aggressive and purposeful look by accentuating the sleek, strong profile of the S-Type and combining both classical characteristics of the car with new Jaguar design aspects."

Available from September, the full 'Sports Collection' package can be ordered for all existing S-Type petrol and diesel saloon vehicles – or retro-fitted – for £2,000 excluding wheels.

X-Type Estate

Introduced last year on the saloon, the Estate's kit is in similar vein. It consists of side sill appliqués and upper and lower black mesh grilles and a new front valance.

A new, high-mounted tailgate spoiler and lowered ramp angles are said to improve aerodynamic performance. Other tweaks include a more pronounced rear boot spoiler, new exhaust tailpipe finishers and new 7.5-inch x 18-inch Proteus alloy wheels.

Jaguar design director Ian Callum said, "The visual impact of adding the body styling pack is dramatic; it refreshes the look of the car, giving people another reason to consider buying an X-Type Estate. Body-styling packages must be designed as an integral part of the car. The rationale was to emphasise the stance of the X-Type Estate by lowering the visual aspect.

"The enhancements we have made for the 'Sports Collection' give the car a more aggressive, purposeful look. The whole attitude and look of the car has been lowered giving the impression it is hugging the road."

Depending on model, the full 'Sports Collection' package can be ordered for all existing X-Type Diesel and petrol estate vehicles – or retro-fitted – for around £1,700 for the saloon and £1,800 for the estate excluding wheels.

[DrDaveWatford]

How pathetic - stick on body kit without uprating engine, suspension or anything else. Anyone buying one of these will be a laughing-stock.

[Esprit]

Unless you bolt a couple of Turbos onto it... then I can see it being quite cool

[Chris71]

Am I the only person who things that looks more than a little Max Power?

[klassiekerrally]

Disgusting!
Said it before: Jaguar as we knew it is dead.
And though in some respects that could have been good, it all turned out completely wrong!

And the X-type Estate is without any doubt the least 'Jaggy' Jaguar ever built. It has absolutely no presence. This car is built for blokes who really should have bought a Saab or so.

[cathalm]

oh god here we go, like audi and BMW don't do exactly the same thing, but of course the predicable mass of automatic british bashers are the only ones who'll ever comment. Sure the X-Type was based on the Mondeo chassis but it IS NOT a mondeo(if you've driven them both). That is unless the a4 is a passat but we wouldn't point that out would we cos that's German! It must be good! I don't even own a jag but I wonder if they (or any other british brand) could ever release anything however good, without attracting undue criticism that wouldn't be levelled at a german brand in the same circumstances. Sure, the s-type has an old world feel about it but thats better than being a drug dealer speacial pig ugly mobile like all new BMW's are. Or worse having electronics fashioned by semi trained apes like mercs. Having speant time in europe and marvelled at the patriotic brand loyalty displayed there, I wonder if British mass car manufacture ever stood a chance. While they ignore faults and focus on the strengths of their domestic brands it's much cooler here to focus always on bashing british. After all you are really a higher class of person if you are sitting in judgement and condemning rather than the plebs who like to praise. Blimey what a rant, but the fact is if this was an announcement of a german brand introducing a sports styling package then the classless bavaria fancying masses wouldn't be criticising at all. And as for not being a real Jaguar, I assume that you mean not poorly built and dynamically stunted like BL/independent Jags of old. After all, how dare they respond in kind to market trends or face heir German rivals on equal terms!? I could explode gentlemen, explode.....

[FestivAli]

cathalm said:

oh god here we go, like audi and BMW don't do exactly the same thing, but of course the predicable mass of automatic british bashers are the only ones who'll ever comment. Sure the X-Type was based on the Mondeo chassis but it IS NOT a mondeo(if you've driven them both). That is unless the a4 is a passat but we wouldn't point that out would we cos that's German! It must be good! I don't even own a jag but I wonder if they (or any other british brand) could ever release anything however good, without attracting undue criticism that wouldn't be levelled at a german brand in the same circumstances. Sure, the s-type has an old world feel about it but thats better than being a drug dealer speacial pig ugly mobile like all new BMW's are. Or worse having electronics fashioned by semi trained apes like mercs. Having speant time in europe and marvelled at the patriotic brand loyalty displayed there, I wonder if British mass car manufacture ever stood a chance. While they ignore faults and focus on the strengths of their domestic brands it's much cooler here to focus always on bashing british. After all you are really a higher class of person if you are sitting in judgement and condemning rather than the plebs who like to praise. Blimey what a rant, but the fact is if this was an announcement of a german brand introducing a sports styling package then the classless bavaria fancying masses wouldn't be criticising at all. And as for not being a real Jaguar, I assume that you mean not poorly built and dynamically stunted like BL/independent Jags of old. After all, how dare they respond in kind to market trends or face heir German rivals on equal terms!? I could explode gentlemen, explode.....

touche. I think they look fantastic, gives extra visual beef. And yes, I do drive a tumble dryer, but that doesn't mean that anything goes...

>> Edited by FestivAli on Sunday 12th June 04:38

[klassiekerrally]

cathalm said:

oh god here we go, like audi and BMW don't do exactly the same thing,

Yep, they do. But I don't give a d... because I don't really like Audi and BMW.
I do like Jaguar however, very much, that's why I don't like this at all.

I agree with you that the Brits should be more proud of their automotive industry, but to be honest: this doesn't help...

[alexkp]

I actually don't think these pictures are very flattering - I'll reserve judgement until I see one in the flesh so to speak.

My daily car is an S-Type, and I love it. Every time you sit in it you feel a sense of occasion, which is one of the reasons why I chose it over a BMW or Merc.

I like the retro look, but I also like the style of the S-Type R.

[zaktoo]

It's standard operating procedure for most car companies - call it "Sport", add nothing but a few tarty bits of body kit - absolutely no engine or chassis mods - and sell it at a premium. It's because limp-wristed marketing types run the show these days - not the petrolheads in the engineering department. Too sad really, and a sad indictment of the "bottom line uber alles" decision-making process.

Precious few car companies today stick their collective necks out, and we the consumers are the worse for it. Of course, we can only really blame ourselves, as we're the first to say that statusmobile X looks terrible, is over-rated and over-priced; but also the first to open our wallets and buy said statusmobile.

[aeroresh]

It would have been ok had the bodykits been at least tasteful, but it looks as though a baboon with an etch-a-sketch has been empoloyed as a stylist.

[xkrman]

aeroresh said:

It would have been ok had the bodykits been at least tasteful, but it looks as though a baboon with an etch-a-sketch has been empoloyed as a stylist.

"You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!"

>> Edited by xkrman on Sunday 12th June 11:48

[FestivAli]

xkrman said:

aeroresh said: It would have been ok had the bodykits been at least tasteful, but it looks as though a baboon with an etch-a-sketch has been empoloyed as a stylist. "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!" >> Edited by xkrman on Sunday 12th June 11:48

Can't you? Oh wait, you can't...

[simpo two]

klassiekerrally said:

Said it before: Jaguar as we knew it is dead.

Yes, but Jaguar as we knew it was financially non-viable. Better owned by Ford than no Jaguar at all.

klassiekerrally said:

And the X-type Estate is without any doubt the least 'Jaggy' Jaguar ever built. It has absolutely no presence. This car is built for blokes who really should have bought a Saab or so.

Now Saabs really are ugly. But 'real' Jaguars, like they had in the old days, would now cost £50K. So if you're going to sell one for only £20K, something has to go. It's aimed at the executive fleet market, and as the Top Gear survey found, when offered a choice of Audi, Merc or X-Type, the X-Type won.

Personally I don't think the X-Type design *quite* works, as it look slike a sanded-down XJ, but if I was a rep I'd be delighted with one!

[shmikes]

I couldn't agree with 'Cathalm' anyomore, Jags are quality cars and these styling enhancements look cool...

It doesn't matter what shit BMW design, because BM drivers are so sad that they just copy there drug dealer friends and have no personality for themselves! If Jaguar were to design exactly the same cars they would get slated for it, i.e 5 series, 7 series, X1 and X3 all look like a dogs dinner but no one batters an eye lid, because it's German...

Mercedes aren't even built well anymore and Audi can't make cars that even handle!

The Germans do make some good cars, but some people just think that everything they make is the best, which is a complete load of rubbish.

British and Italian cars will always be the most exotic and beautiful cars.

>> Edited by shmikes on Friday 24th June 17:05

>> Edited by shmikes on Friday 24th June 17:05