Despite Challenges, Jaguar Has Creative Designs on the Future
How the automaker is moving forward, and utilizing new solutions to collaborate, design, and sell Jaguars. Plus F-Type design secrets and new XJ news!
During this incredibly odd and often scary time, everyone has had to adjust. One challenge that many companies face is how exactly do we move forward while keeping safe? The auto industry has been hit hard. As such, Jaguar has had to rethink how their vehicles are made, as well as how they are designed.
But the company is forging ahead. Among some of the changes, Jaguar has improved their digital buying platform. According to Jaguar, the new virtual showroom has attracted 3.3 million people. Online, there are a number of options available to configure a Jaguar or Land Rover, and virtual assistance is at the ready.
However, Jaguar wants to keep the momentum going from the past year; a boost largely attributed to the success of the 2020 F-Type. Julian Thomson, Jaguar’s director of design, recently talked with Ars Technica about how the big cat is adapting; as well as the state-of-the-art technology usually employed to bring Jaguars to life. He also shared insight on the F-Type design, as well as what the future will hold.
Under the category of irony, Jaguar recently opened a new 130,000 square foot design studio in Gaydon, England, complete with some of the industry’s most cutting-edge technology. It is the perfect place for the 300 person team to get together and utilize the innovative clay modeling equipment, virtual reality technology, and a 36-foot 4K display wall.
“A whole new studio was built around a very collaborative communicative space,” said Thomson. “And so now to be stuck in my attic tied to an iPad is pretty strange for me and has had its moments.”
And it is an adjustment. Thomson is–like most of us–working from home; a radical departure from a guy who was rarely in his office. And while they have worked out the kinks, there is a distinct frustration and disadvantage at not being able to access the details of the clay and full-sized models.
“I can review animations and 3D models at home…The clay model is the part of the process where you’re really refining surfaces and honing designs and getting them right—that’s a bit we can’t really do at the moment. That’s a bit of a bottleneck in the process.” he says.
And the team relied on those details when it came to realizing the 2020 F-Type. Thomson says one design element that made a world of difference in its design was the headlights.
“So, with the technology afforded by the new lamps, we were able to do these much slimmer pixel LEDs,” he says. This freed up designers to get a little more daring and sporty.
“It basically has the effect of making the bonnet look longer, because your eye doesn’t read a lamp going up the fender. And it also allows you to visually widen the car, and when the car comes towards you, you see the lights flow down and they pull your eye right out to the edges of the car,” he explains. “It’s very, very important for a sports car particularly that it looks very, very planted and low at the front. So that’s really what we’re trying to do with that vehicle,” Thomson said.
As for the upcoming XJ, confirmed to be all-electric, Thomson couldn’t spill all the beans. But he did confirm it will be a proper sedan, not a crossover. This is still a Jaguar, after all.
“Jaguars don’t like height. We never want to do tall cars—I don’t think any designer actually wants to do tall cars, unless they’re designing a Bronco or a Defender,” he says.
We’ll be waiting!
Photos: Jaguar
Join in the Jaguar discussion at the Forums!
