Meet Jaguar’s new F-Type in Jaguar’s new design bunker
Jaguar has a new design studio, a new design boss and a new F-Type. With a nod to the past, it’s looking to the future
Sitting on fancy chairs tucked away in the ‘library corner’ of Jaguar’s brand-new 12,000 square foot design studio in Gaydon, the almost equally new design director Julian Thomson recounts a story about his old boss Ian Callum. ‘When he got some medal from the Palace, I was invited along as a guest. In the greetings line he introduced me to the Duke of Edinburgh,’ Thomson recalls. ‘Ian said: “This is my assistant design director.” And quick as a flash the Duke of Edinburgh replied, “So you’re the man who does all the work and doesn’t get the credit for it?”’
There’s not even a hint of resentment in 58-year-old Thomson’s anecdote, and he’s certainly not trying to diminish Callum’s formidable track record. But as Callum’s right-hand man for almost all of the former design director’s tenure at Jaguar – Thomson joined in 2000, Callum in 1999 – Thomson was responsible as director of advanced design for influencing all of the current crop of Jaguar production cars, as well as concepts including the 2001 R-Coupe, 2003 R-D6, 2007 C-XF, 2010 C-X75, 2011 C-X16 and the Land Rover LRX from 2008.
Taking over the reins from the well-regarded Callum is a big deal, of course, but at the same time not such a psychological leap for Thomson. ‘In the last two years I was in charge of pretty much what I’m in charge of now,’ says Thomson. ‘I worked very, very closely with Ian and he remains a great friend of mine. But ultimately, he got the final say. He had the task to take away all that retro feeling and get it back bang up-to-date and modern. Through his time at Jaguar he did that. Now I have a chance to put my own stamp on things. I wouldn’t have taken on this job if I didn’t think I could do it better.’
So what does ‘better’ look like? And what does Thomson think needs improving? ‘I definitely want to make the brand more individual than it has been,’ he replies. ‘We’ve done some cars that have been very individual like the i-Pace, very innovative and very disruptive. But other cars have been less so. I want to make sure all our cars have that wake-up call element about them. The task we’ve had in the last 20 years has been to fix the brand and make it more contemporary, get it taken seriously and get it to grow. That foundation is pretty solid, sales volumes have gone way up, we have loads of new product entrants and we’re in a strong position. Now we can start to push harder and get some of the specialness injected back into Jaguar.’
There was an awkward transitional period in the early ’00s when Jaguar design was in the process of ‘getting fixed’ by Callum and Thomson, but the new products reaching the showroom had a retro feel to them. When the X-Type, S-Type and XJ weren’t huge sales successes, it was this retro look that got much of the blame, and the brand’s glorious past sometimes seemed to be unmentionable at JLR. But in the brave new world of connectivity, autonomy, car sharing and electrification of the 2020s and beyond, Thomson sees a new place for referencing its great history again.
‘Everyone is having to face those challenges,’ he says. ‘But at the same time people like brands with legacy; that are more human and have a tremendous story. It’s what separates truly special brands from others. As cars all become about technology and perhaps there’s less reason to really exploit their performance, people are looking for character, and Jaguar’s is one of the richest product stories ever. There will always be brands that make a bigger noise than us. But British brands tend to be more understated, for people who are in the know without being snooty.’
Downstairs is Jaguar’s cavernous triple-height Studio 3 and 4, named in part after the numbers on the Le Mans-winning D-Types of 1957 and 1956 respectively, and a hat-tip to the Studios 1 and 2 at Jaguar’s previous design centre in Whitley, half an hour’s drive away. We stroll past 10 huge plates, each 20 metres long, where up to 20 full-size clay models can be worked on by hand, then hydraulically lifted up and viewed side by side.
In the central mezzanine section there’s a bank of screens and desks for computer-aided surfacing and modelling. It’s also a great vantage point from which designers can gaze down at their latest creations. Virtual reality suites, an 11-metre digital display wall in an ante room and the latest milling machines ensure the studio has the kit to go with the space.
It offers one-third more room than the old studio and superb naturallight viewing conditions courtesy of 906 square metres of glazing and three full-length skylights. At one end, the wall is clad in vertically-arranged ⊲
‘I wouldn’t have taken on this job if I didn’t think I could do it better’ JULIAN THOMSON
wood slats to add warmth and colour, and a large outside viewing space where models can be wheeled out to view in daylight. It feels more like a high-end hotel foyer than a sterile all-white design lab.
And on the day we visit there’s also the new F-Type, ready to view. Immediate impressions are in-line with Thomson’s new mantra. The 2013 F-Type wasn’t brash – and I’ve never met a person who didn’t love its rear end – but its big eyes and slashed gills had an aggression not totally in line with all Jaguar’s brand values. By comparison the 2020 model’s new front end appears softer and less lairy, but still with loads of presence.
Thomson admits the front was the area of focus, with some design changes prompted by new technology; the bigger grille has a lot more sensor equipment to conceal than the original F-Type. There’s also a blade-like front splitter inspired by the limited-edition Project Seven racer. To find out more we have a chat with the head of exterior design, Adam Hatton, whose involvement in the F-Type dates all the way back to the 2000 concept.
‘The first production car’s headlights were much larger and taller in shape as they didn’t have this latest pixel-matrix technology,’ Hatton explains. ‘These look like four blocks of ice, and as if you’re on high beam all the time, but they turn off [the appropriate] lamps when they see a car coming the other way. Lamps are designed around the technology inside, and always have been throughout history – the E-Type had big round halogen lamps that dictated its shape. Technology dictates these lamps’ super-slim shape, too.’
Hatton points out that the new car’s overall dimensions are largely the same, but that the car appears wider and its nose longer through the positioning of the ultra-slim headlights and adjustments to the shape of the bonnet (and its vents being placed further forward).
‘We wanted to take lines off,’ Hatton continues, ‘and get a bit of that beautiful Jaguar surfacing from those lovely cars from our heritage, but in a very modern way.’
The new grille is wider and deeper. ‘Around the hexagons is a polished gloss front face,’ enthuses Hatton. ‘The grille has a satin interior as well. It’s subtle, but when you see the combination, it’s a lovely little detail. We made the grille bigger because we wanted a more powerful and distinctive graphic when you see the car from a distance. But it will never be tasteless; we’ll always have elegance.’
Beyond the A-pillar the side profile is unchanged except for a new detail in the space behind the front wheel, where there was previously a Jaguar-badged metallic gill. There the Jaguar ‘leaper’ logo now sits on a gloss-black and flush-mounted plate instead.
At that well-loved rear end, round lights have been replaced by more angular ‘chicane’-shaped lamps and there’s a more dramatic and slatted gloss-black valance around the exhaust pipes. Too dramatic, perhaps? Hatton defends his corner: ‘With a car like this you’ve got to show off its sporting credentials. Some supercars do that to the extreme. What we like to have is a combination of clean surfaces over the car but some lovely technical detailing too. It simplifies as you get further away. You only see the extra lines when you come up close. It’s not just about the aero, which is the driving force behind it, but about showing off that visual width.’
Inside the cabin, the new F-Type is almost as before, but you’ll notice the neat new lozenge-shaped quilting on the upper seatback. The same shape appears in miniature inside the rear light clusters too. It’s based on the six-sided Jaguar logo used in the ’50s. Taking that basic shape and repeating it, but with the lettering removed, Thomson’s team has ⊲
‘It’s such a delight to be able to just work on our cars properly’
JULIAN THOMSON
‘Luxury these days is not necessarily about gadgets. It’s about a sense of wellbeing’
JULIAN THOMSON
created a pattern that will appear on all manner of future Jaguars and on their associated merchandise. It’s a technique that’s been used by highend fashion brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton for decades; Jaguar’s design team is consciously trying to make the brand more consistent and aligning it with other luxury brands.
And under that skin you’ll find a choice of 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder and 5.0-litre supercharged V8 petrol engines. The V8 comes in two strengths – 444bhp and 567bhp for the range-topping F-Type R. The R is all-wheel-drive, while the 296bhp 2.0-litre is rear-drive only, and the 444bhp V8 offers you the choice. All have eight-speed auto ’boxes.
So no hybrid F-Type yet, let alone an electric one. But the Jaguar Land Rover group will offer degrees of electrification on all its cars from 2025 onwards, and as early as 2020 the next XJ will arrive as an all-electric limo that emphasises the luxury side of Jaguar.
‘Luxury these days in a very hectic world is not necessarily about gadgets and stuff,’ Thomson muses. ‘It’s about calmness and a sense of wellbeing and relaxation. All those messages fit very well with an electric Jaguar. You’ve got a brand which is about beautiful design and materials and an electric powertrain that gives you complete silence and refinement. So this car will naturally make you feel good. As most big limousines are used in urban environments, in its way it’s a whole retake on luxury vehicles.’ But what about packaging all those batteries required for the range you’d reasonably expect any limo to offer? Will it, for instance, be more dicult to offer a low roofline in keeping with Jaguar’s pre-SUV tradition?
‘It definitely presents different challenges, and it was dicult to get a Jaguar proportion,’ Thomson confirms. ‘But we have some technology solutions. I won’t tell you what they are, but we had to be clever. Luckily electric cars tend to weigh a bit so they need huge wheels and tyres, so you can offset certain things. We’re going to offer an electric car that is very elegant and with a much larger interior than we think anyone else is doing, and much larger than the current XJ.’ ⊲
‘If we can’t make this place work for us, we’re doing something seriously wrong’
JULIAN THOMSON
In January 2019 JLR announced 4500 redundancies across the business, blamed in part on a downturn in sales in China (although things have picked up more recently). But the design department was spared the worst of that painful process; Thomson’s team is still 280 strong. That’s quite a contrast to the size of the team reporting to him in his only previous stint as a head of design, at Lotus, where he conceived the original and still-fresh 1996 Elise. There he had 40 staff, and considerably less advanced facilities than at Gaydon.
The new studio is also a big advance on the old Jaguar design operation in Coventry, once a Chrysler studio. Equipment was often old and illogically scattered around, as he recalls with a mix of nostalgia and relief at no longer having to deal with it. ‘I think we had nine plates over there but the Hillman Avenger had been designed on them, so they were a bit knackered, and they were dotted around all over the place.’
Thomson admits there are risks in moving into a big, slick new location. You can’t, for instance, assume that the team spirit built up over many years will seamlessly transfer to the lavish new studio. ‘There is definitely that pressure,’ he says, ‘but the really obvious tangible benefits of having this space, the machinery and an enthused workforce, you notice straight away. We’re going to do better work here. I was worried because we have such a big space we might get pockets of people building empires in corners. But we’ve worked hard to make sure that doesn’t happen. It’s such a delight to be able to just work on our cars properly.’
Would the new set-up – from the vast skylights to the designer chairs we’re sitting on during the interview – make his fellow JLR design boss, Gerry McGovern over at Land Rover, ever so slightly jealous? ‘No, because he’s got much fancier furniture than us,’ says Thomson. ‘He likes a studio that is very clinical, whereas we want a warm, creative environment.’ Thomson did once work for McGovern as well as Callum, during a stint as advanced design director for Jaguar and Land Rover in 2006. ‘That’s when we kicked off things like the LRX concept. It was quite dicult, because their styles were so different. I felt almost like a double agent because they plainly didn’t see eye-to-eye on everything.
‘And even though I’ve been here a long time, I’m new to this role, so I do listen to him and I think he’s learning from our guys as well. We have a slightly softer attitude to running a team at Jaguar than Land Rover. There are different philosophies, but we can learn from each other.’ With a combined JLR design department of about 900 people, they do share personnel and discuss tactics because of the often shared technologies in the cars. But Thomson stresses that the designers remain very brand-loyal. After decades where Land Rover has been the driving force within JLR – in terms of both profit and influence – maybe Thomson’s time will accelerate the shift in the balance of power that Callum began.
Thomson is only the third-ever design director of the brand, in Jaguar’s second-ever design studio. ‘I’ve got a very strategic brain and know an awful lot about the business and what it takes to run it. I feel very passionate about getting Jaguar into a very successful position. And if we can’t make this place work for us, we’re doing something seriously wrong.’
As Thomson moves out of Callum’s shadow, everything is in place for him to become Jaguar design royalty too. Maybe the wily old Duke of Edinburgh is more perceptive than we give him credit for.