In the first place, it will have a price that's an annual starting salary below the Jags you associate with the brand?say $45,000, give or take, for a reasonably equipped one.
So when the X-Type arrives in the second half of 2001 it will take Jag into one of the most hotly contested segments in the market?entry-luxury sports sedan?where a formidable array of competitors await. Chief among those brands would be the BMW 3-series, the Lexus IS300, the Mercedes-Benz C-class, and (you have to trust me on this one) version 2.0 of the Cadillac Catera, which is due next year.
In the flesh, so to speak, and on paper, the X-Type seems to have a fighting chance of reeling in those younger buyers. It looks better in real life than it does in any picture currently available (spy shot or production house image), since the two sets of double-barreled headlights really give it a sporty Jaguar-esque look.
This sporty image is critical to Jag's future, because that's the hook that Jag will hang its appeal to younger buyers on. So we can expect every future model to have more than the standard ride and handling ability, and we can also expect a really sporty version of every model Jag makes wearing the R badge. S-Type is next on that front, by the way, and fairly soon.
Jaguar design boss Ian Callum said it's very important that the X-Type pass the "rearview mirror test" and be recognizable to the driver of the car in front of it (after all, what's the point of getting one if people don't know about it?), and he and his predecessor, the late Geoff Lawson, have accomplished that.