Many remain very close to the concept, I worked on the V705 Mazda MX5 concept car in 1985, the P729 production version debuted in 1989 at the Chicago Motor Show differed only in that it did not have the solid tonneau cover with twin D type fairings behind the driver and passenger heads that we had developed and the hood folded down into the space behind the seats in the traditional manner.

 

The solid version was inspired by the tonneau cover on the Triumph Stag that I had owned 4 years before, I still have the lofted drawings of the prototype produced from the full size clay models from the styling studio, no CAD or laser scanning in those days.

I gather the concept is just over 5 meters long! Perhaps they will launch the 4 door saloon first.

 

Jaguar has a history of many 'firsts', but it's hard to see what they can achieve with this latest move. 😞

 

Still, as a company they were going nowhere except down, so perhaps it was right to give it a final throw of the dice. I hope it works for them, but in the words of those tv peeps  " I'm out!"" 

4 hours ago, J.R. said:

 

Other thoughts, what the heck are those things for that are deployed in front of the doors, something for 007? 

 

 

I was thinking a bit of an homage to Bristol and their spare wheel location. 

1 minute ago, skomaz said:

 

I was thinking a bit of an homage to Bristol and their spare wheel location. 

Now there's a motor builder. 

 

12 hours ago, skomaz said:

 

I was thinking a bit of an homage to Bristol and their spare wheel location. 

 

I knew it reminded me of something I had seen before!

 

You would need a pallet truck to extract and fit a spare wheel on that monstrosity.

I quite like the proportions. It has a look of a petrol car rather than a Lego motor driven kitchen appliance. At least it is interesting. 

 

I remember when Chris Bangle started to style BMWs and hated his original version of the 1 series with its flame surfacing, hideous, it looked like it had broken its back. But... after a while it looked fresh and original and the idea of these curved surfaces started to appear on other BMWs, perhaps in a slightly more subtle way, owing to the larger surfaces to work with, and I started to actually like them. Nowadays, we see these surfaces everywhere on all sort of cars, although perhaps BMW is now moving in a slightly different direction again. 

 

So I say "go for it" Jag, go down swinging, or go home. 

 

Mind you, I love elephants, but I wouldn't want to own one though.