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Frankfurt Top Twenty: Jaguar XF

What is it?

The car that's tasked with saving Jaguar. The new XF needs to sell well to help whoever buys Jaguar make some profit. So the XF is a radical departure from Jaguar's more traditional product, certainly it's a quite dramatic step away from its very traditional-looking S-Type predecessor. There are a few recognisable Jaguar styling elements on the outside, the grille in particular, but this is a Jaguar that needs to appeal to a far wider audience to ensure its, and the company's future success.

How is it different?

You just need to look at the XF on the stand in Frankfurt alongside its more traditionally styled relatives to realise how radical Jaguar has been with its styling. It's not before time either, though impressively different as the XF is it could be too little to late. Advanced driving dynamics including electronic controls like Understeer Control Logic are all incorporated to ensure that the XF has the dynamic prowess to take on its German competition from BMW, Audi and Mercedes. Four engines will be offered, a 2.7-litre twin-turbo diesel, a 3.0-litre V6 petrol and a pair of 4.2-litre petrol V8s, one naturally-aspirated and the other supercharged. Inside, Jaguar has given the XF a neat interior with hide-away air vents and a particularly cool pop-out rotary gear selector for the standard automatic transmissions.

Who's going to buy it?

Jaguar clearly hopes everyone will. After the disappointing sales of the smaller X-Type and the XF's S-Type predecessor's relatively low sales Jaguar really needs a volume success story. So Jaguar really hopes the XF's blend of promised excellent driving dynamics, neat design and competitive pricing will attract people out of German showrooms - the norm in this class. Whether it's going to work remains to be seen.

When are they going to make it?

The XF is already for pre-order now with demonstrators being available in UK showrooms from early next year. Deliveries commence in March 2008 in time for the new registration, prices starting at £33,900 and rising to £54,900. Regardless of which car you order, be it the entry-level V6s or the range-topping 4.2-litre supercharged model all will look the same with the exception of wheel size and style.

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