New XK8 is ALC dead-ringer

Newswheel staff :: 25 April 2005 :: Filed under Coupe, Jaguar, Jaguar ALC, Jaguar XK8, Europe & UK, US,

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Concept car was the real deal after all

Reports abound in web and print that this autumn’s XK8 replacement won’t stray far from the ALC concept Jaguar has been hawking at the usual motor shows. If the mock-up pictures in Autocar Magazine are accurate, the difference twixt the two will be limited to minor details such as the replacement of the front air damn vents with conventional driving lights and the ditching of the large central exhaust for a classic two-pipe Jag setup.

Whether that’s a good or bad thing is another matter. For sure, it’s a well-proportioned and elegant box. But it’s also very similar to Jaguar design chief Ian Callum’s work for Ford Premier Automotive Group stablemate, Aston Martin - cars such as the DB7 and to a lesser extent the DB9. We can’t help feeling the Jag brand deserves something a little more original and distinctive. Something a bit more like the current XK, actually.

Those Autocar pics in full.

A few more here.

STOP PRESS: Autocar’s Julian Rendell reports that Jaguar will offer a diesel variant on the new XK8. Is there no end to the horrors of diesel?