2006 Jaguar Xj8 Base Sedan 4-door 4.2l on 2040-cars

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Watch new Jaguar XF perform a literal high-wire act

Coming out with a new luxury sedan can be a truly daunting prospect. Make it too edgy and you'll risk disenfranchising what can often be a rather conservative customer base. Make it too conservative and you may fail to attract enough new customers or generate enough interest to make the endeavor worthwhile. Whether Jaguar succeeded in walking that thin line with the new XF is a matter of personal taste, blending as it does elements from the smaller XE and the outgoing XF it replaces. But in launching the new model, Jaguar didn't just pull of a figurative high-wire act – it did quite a literal one. To drum up support for its newest debut, Jaguar undertook the stunt depicted in the video above, stringing a pair of carbon-fiber cables some 60 feet above the River Thames in London. With some guide wires and counterbalance weights to keep it all in check, and a motion-picture stunt crew orchestrating it all, the new XF drove over 780 feet from one bank of the river to the other, setting a new world record in the process. Instead of thinking too hard about the whys (seriously, though... why?) and hows, we suggest you just watch the video above. Related Video:

Jaguar's Callum: 'Huge' opportunities with electric vehicles

Eventually, some brave innovator, with an imagination light years ahead of the rest of us mere mortals, will envision an automotive future that the rest of us can't conceive. This person will step up and tell us how electric vehicles have the potential to change our lives for the better. They'll have the guts to tell us that if we could only open our eyes, we'd see that there's a way to get from one place to another that doesn't pollute the air we breathe. They'll explain that it won't just be globally responsible, it'll be magnificent. Yes, the electric car needs a champion, a figurehead, someone so inspirational that comic book superheroes are modeled after him. Finally, that champion has revealed himself. Saying out loud what the enlightened few of us know but dare not utter for fear of ridicule, our hero has spoken. "Electrification will kickstart the biggest change in automotive design in history," Ian Callum, design director at Jaguar told Autocar. That Jaguar sees the potential for electric vehicles is welcome progress. Sarcasm aside, that Jaguar sees the potential for electric vehicles is welcome progress. Even more appealing is that Callum approaches the potential of EVs from a design angle, where the slate is essentially blank, he feels, and so much is possible. "The opportunities an electric powertrain offers are huge," Callum says, "especially in terms of the space for occupants. By removing so much of the mechanical hardware and placing the batteries in the floor plan you open up all sorts of possibilities with packaging." To peer into Callum's mind when it comes to EV design would be extraordinary to behold. In many ways, his vision truly is something most of us cannot grasp completely, having spent a long career designing some of the most desirable cars of our time for some of the most prestigious automotive brands on the planet. So when he talks about the freedom EVs present from a design standpoint, it's not difficult to get excited. A Jaguar EV isn't as far-fetched as it might seem at first. Plus, a Jaguar EV isn't as far-fetched as it might seem at first, as Callum explains. "I'm clear in my mind that an electric Jaguar would be suitable for the brand," he says. "You have to move with the times and design for the opportunities. Look at the C-X75 concept – that was a car that was designed for an alternative powertrain, and nobody had any complaints about how that looked.

Jaguar XE spied flying over London

We only have a few hours to wait before Jaguar finally, and fully, unveils its oft-teased XE sedan. But the Internet is no respecter of secrets, as these very last-minute spy shots make clear.
Presumably being airlifted to its spectacular debut location near Earl's Court in London, the BMW 3-Series-fighting XE was captured mid-flight, and completely undisguised.
The images are understandably a bit blurry, but they do confirm that DNA from the current Jag lineup is transitioning nicely to the new small luxury sedan. The XE shows a stance typical of the brand, with a relatively short rear overhang, and big, boldly styled wheels. The bluff front end is reminiscent of if the XF and XJ, and, as we know from earlier teasers, will wear a "growler" logo over a black grille.