Jaguar XJ - most beautiful car in the world?

SA price:

R1 055 000.

Top speed:

250km/h, 0-100km/h six seconds.

Consumption:

7.1 litres/100km.

CO2 emissions:

184g/km.

Best for:

Refugees from German prestige brands.

Also worth considering:

If you're explaining, you're losing. That grim piece of wisdom comes from the tough world of American politics where having to waste time clarifying a candidate's mis-statements, or getting an over-complicated message across, can be an electoral death sentence.

One day in the middle of 2009 it occurred to me in a different context. The occasion was an early viewing in London of Jaguar's then new large XJ saloon and the man doing the explaining was the company's design chief, Ian Callum.

He was walking around the car while pointing out aspects of the XJ's shape and lifting the lid on some techniques he and his team used to achieve particular effects.

It didn't really seem to be the desperate sort of explaining you do when you're losing; in fact it was probably the most absorbing and informative talk I'd heard from a senior motor industry figure. And yet there seemed to be a few things that needed explanation - those black strips covering the rear window pillars, for example, one of the elements that at first sight make the XJ's design appear fussier than the superficially similar XF.

They, it was said, alleviated the visual heaviness that might otherwise creep into a four-door fastback's shape, but I couldn't help thinking that the beauty of any object should be immediately apparent to the beholder and not require explanation by its designers.

Several months later I had another chance to hear Ian Callum explain the XJ's looks, this time at its media launch in Paris. There he shared another of the car's secrets: if I understood him correctly, it was that elements of the XJ's design, while novel, conformed to deeply established rules of proportion. Even if they at first appeared awkward they would, with familiarity, come right.

PERFORMANCE A BONUS

I was sceptical at the time; now I have to admit that he was right. I thought the XJ was handsome I first saw it, though slightly short of true greatness; now, after looking at it in pictures and in the metal for the better part of a year, I think it is the most beautiful car in the world.

The fact that it performs sensationally well in almost every respect is a bonus.

The burden of explanation is lifted from Callum's shoulders and now weighs heavily on the respective design departments of Jaguar's German rivals. The XJ makes their big saloons look ordinary; they're losing and now they have some explaining to do. - The Independent, London