So with a month and a day to go before the grand unveiling, I think we have a pretty good idea of what the exterior will look like but I haven't seen any photos or descriptions of what the interior styling will be. The safe bet is that it will be slightly sportier than the XF but not as exotic as the F-Type and will use slightly downgraded materials like the Germans do with the 5/3 series and the E/C class. My hope is that it's closer to the F-Type than the XF albeit with the rotary gear selector and the seat controls moved off of the door panels. And, while I may be a fan of the old leather and wood school of luxury, I expect cost considerations and appealing to a younger crowd will preclude that.

A car designer I know once pointed out that you spend 10x more time looking at the inside of a car than the outside so that's where you should really examine the styling. What would you like to see inside?

 

I don't know, honestly. The new C-Class really seems to have upped the game for interior design so I hope I see a mixture of some XJ and F-Type with a thoroughly modern interface.

 

So Jaguar released the first "pictures" of the interior this morning, focusing mostly on the infotainment center. Still, there's enough information there to get a visualization of the basic interior design.

Jaguar reveals upcoming XE's InControl infotainment system [w/video] - Autoblog

All the images are CGI but, around 1:26 of the video, you get a good view of the layout. Looks like it will be twin dials on the dashboard and, thank heaven, they didn't go the "Glue an IPod onto the dashboard" effect of the BMW 3/ Mercedes C-class. It's not quite as sporting as the F-Type but overall, it looks pretty good.

It sounds like they're pushing the envelope in terms of infotainment with a focus on integration with cell phones and real time information. The touch screen is swipeable and can run apps (it's not clear if these are apps from your phone or apps installed in the car). You can also pre-program the system to turn on A/C or heat at a specified time or, do it from your cell phone. That's a neat feature if you're walking back to the car on a hot day and want to get the A/C going ahead of time.

 

Looks like a rotary shift too. I like them, it gives a much better feeling of space. And thank god Jag hasn't gone down the Benz column shift path. Oh dear, I thought that they went out in the 70s. How they sell those cars with the nailed on iPad and the column shift I really don't know.


Hopefully the impression that there is a lot of buttons is just an effect of the CGI. I prefer the clean spaces in the XF, and I'd rather have a big touchscreen like Volvo seem to be going for in the next XC90, and work most things from that.


I can take or leave the app stuff and the heads up would just be a distraction for me, but I suppose that they have to put this stuff in to keep up with everyone else.

 

It seems to have the nautical inspired dash like the XJ's. I was expecting the shifter like in the F-Type, but I like the rotary one in my XF.