JAGUAR’S PARISIAN PARADE
Chief designer, Ian Callum, helps to drive every generation of XJ to the Paris Motor Show in order to celebrate its half century
Paris has played a special role in the life and times of the Jaguar XJ; the XJ6 Series 1 was revealed to the world for the first time in the Paris capital in 1968 and buyers got their first glimpse of the X300 (in 1994) and the all-aluminium X350 (in 2002) there, too. In a double celebration of model and show, Jaguar drove every significant XJ produced during the model’s five-decade lifespan to Le Mondial Paris in observance of the latter’s 120th birthday.
A total of 11 cars convoyed from Jaguar’s Castle Bromwich factory, stopping off at Jaguar Land Rover Classic, Bicester Heritage, as well as Goodwood and Le Mans.
Jaguar Director of Design, Ian Callum, who travelled in the convoy, said: ‘This was an enormous adventure. All the planning in the world could never account for the unknown of driving old classics. It was such a pleasure to experience all these iconic XJs and the cars were truly wonderful to drive. The journey clearly demonstrated that XJs pass the test of time, no matter how old.
‘ When I started at Jaguar, the XJ was already an icon of car design, so to have been part of this story that has been told over half a century has been an absolute privilege.’
Elsewhere at Porte de Versailles, Land Rover Classic showed off its Reborn Series 1, Renault exhibited several old models and concept cars and Suzuki showed a first-generation Jimny LJ10 next to its new version.