New Jaguar XJ

Salesman Tony Martin has been selling prestige cars for the best part of a quarter of a century, writes motoring editor Peter Carroll.

“Porsches, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Aston Martins – I’ve sold them all in my time,” he says.

“But I have never been as excited about a new car as I am about this one…”

Tony, senior sales executive at Stratstone’s dealership in Wolverhampton, is talking about the impending arrival of the new Jaguar XJ.

In a few weeks’ time this car will take its place as the new flagship of the Big Cat brand – and Tony and his colleagues cannot wait to start selling it.

With prices starting at around £53,000, Stratstone staff have already taken a dozen orders from customers who have yet to drive the vehicle.

Jaguar XJ Electric in 2011

With deliveries for the new 2010 Jaguar XJ set to start shortly, prices for the new luxo-cat have been released. They start at $72,500 (including destination) for the base normally aspirated 5.0-liter XJ and go up from there.

In the realm of luxury barges, a “basic” car can hardly be considered basic. But what Jaguar calls a base XJ undercuts all of its competition. Audi’s (current) A8 starts roughly $2000 higher and is the closest in price to the Jag. BMW’s short wheelbase V-8 powered 750i starts at $83,000 (including destination) and Mercedes-Benz doesn’t even offer a short wheel-base S-Class in the States. A similarly powered long-wheelbase S-Class will set you back just over $92,000.


Although the new XJ is priced significantly less than most of its competition, it includes all of the amenities usually found on über-sedans. The standard XJ comes with 16-way power heated and cooled front seats, dual-zone climate control, a 600-watt premium sound system, navigation, an adaptive suspension, and even a panoramic glass roof. And of course the interior simply oozes British luxury.

Electric Jaguar XJ has been created, gets a 600 mile range

In April of 2009 last year, the European Investment Bank gave Jaguar/Land Rover $453 million USD to increase funding for a range of fuel-efficient vehicles that will help cut the brands’ overall emissions by 25 percent by 2012. At that time it was reported that Jaguar is planning a range-extended version of the new XJ sedan.