JAGUAR JX preview

On the heels of the 2010 Jaguar XJ unveiling in London, and preceding its North American debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance this weekend, Jaguar showed the new XJ off at small events in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Along with a select number of auto journalists, Jaguar invited design school students to take a look at the car. The new XJ represents a radical revamping of a 40-year-old design, and with so much history, the new look is a little hard to accept. In fact, it is difficult to think of it as an XJ at all. Its lines are modern, making it look similar to other cars on the road. But designer Ian Callum includes a few touches to make it stand out, such as the strange back glass that appears to wrap around the rear of the car. In the cabin, there's no mistaking its modernity. Not only does it have a touch screen on the stack for navigation, phone, and music functions, but it also uses a completely virtual instrument cluster, a TFT screen showing representations of analog gauges.