Jaguar XF Sportbrake: An inside look at the Sportbrake’s design +video

Jaguar XF Sportbrake - an inside look at the design

Jaguar design boss Ian Callum and Studio Director Wayne Burgess walk us through the new XF Sportbrake and its design.

We’ve had endless stuff on the new Jaguar XF Sportbrake over the last few months – and even more since Jaguar officially revealed the XF Sportbrake ahead of its Geneva debut – so we thought we’d had a bit of ‘Sportbrake Overload’ going on, however good we think the new XF is.

So when we got this video of Jaguar design boss Ian Callum and Studio Director Wayne Burgess doing a talking-heads walkthrough on the Sportbrake we thought we might pass. But having watched it through and thoroughly enjoyed it, we thought we ought to share.

Yes, it’s a bit of a marketing exercise for the Sportbrake, but there’s nothing wrong with that. But it does give us a good feel for exactly what we can expect from the XF Estate ahead of a first drive, and it does seem even more appealing after this video.

Ian Callum admits that conceiving the Sportbrake did necessitate a degree of pragmatism and functionality – after all, the Sportbrake is an estate – but Jaguar does seemed to have managed the load-lugging bit for the XF without losing its inherent sportiness and appeal.

They’ve managed to achieve a car with more rear head room yet still give an almost coupe estate profile by cleverly using a rising line from the front edge of the front wing right the way through to the back of the Sportbrake, giving length and elegance to the profile, the illusion of a falling roofline towards the back, and all whilst accommodating a chunk of stuff and adding more headroom.

Round the back the blacked-out pillars at the side of the rear screen works better than on the XJ to give a floating roof look, and the wide chrome strip, visually extending in to the read lights make the rear end seem both athletic and robust, yet elegant.

The load storage solutions are elegant too, but what really appeals is the claim that the Sportbrake will; be just as dynamic as the saloon. The self-levelling rear suspension should keep the Sportbrake on an even keel no matter what you stick in the back, and the option of Active Dynamics should mean you can chuck the Sportbrake round in the same joyful way you can the XF saloon.

But it does make us yearn for an XFR Sportbrake.

(19 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK