Wednesday 12th May 2010

New Jag XJ Joins The Lib-Con Coalition

Last minute delivery gets a pair of new XJs on the telly

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Is it a new XJ each? We should be told

Whatever your political affiliation, every PHer must have been heartened to see Jaguar taking centre stage during the Downing Street shenanigans over the last couple of days.

But were we alone in thinking the company had missed a trick, as the outgoing PM and his replacement were ferried hither and thither in previous generation XJs from the ministerial car pool?

Either way, it was with a sigh of relief that we finally started seeing the all-new XJ doing its duty for the first time on the telly. But why the sudden and belated appearance?

As seen on the BBC...

Well, a little bird tells us a brace of new XJs - which me must presume are fully armoured 'head of state' spec - were only delivered to the Metropolitan Police for evaluation yesterday, that's May 11th.

Naturally we rang the folks at Jaguar to find out more, but while they're happy to say they've been thrilled to see their new limos pressed into service in front of the collected global news media, they can't release any information at all about the two cars or their specifications.

...and all around the world

Something to do with the official secrets act, and the somewhat extreme penalty still applicable for treason, apparently...

[Triple7]

I too thought Jaguar had missed a huge oppurtunity last night with the 'live' tv coverage. Glad to see that is being rectified and our new Prime Minister is showcasing the new generation Jaguars.

[petrolveins]

Yeah i was quite surprised too, seeing that the XJ he had yesterday was a 10-reg and not the new XJ, glad it's been sorted now though.

[Chapppers]

They wanted to wait for the new generation of PM before they let them have the new generation Jags... :P

Edited by Chapppers on Wednesday 12th May 17:16

[seawise]

good to see most of the cabinet in british built Jags rather than some pathetic meek hybrid built 12,000 shipping miles away....

[petrolveins]

After a quick google, I've read that these XJs for Cameron and Clegg cost £200,000 each, and have bullet-proof glass, bomb proof armor, and a separate oxygen supply, oh and run flats.

[nsmith1180]

Great looking car. Glad to see it being put to good use. Now for a Dailmer verson for Her Majesty???

[SystemParanoia]

i would be really impressed if they managed to get a few ED-209's operating on downing street too

[Jont999]

"I screwed up the country, but it's ok...I have a Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag"

[va1o]

Great choice, I was quite lucky and saw one of the new XJs in person months before launch and they do look stunning.

[[AJ]]

They look lovely. Perfect in fact.

[sleep envy]

hope they've sorted out the 'elastic band under the bonnet' issue

[Black S2K]

Nah, Jaguar had to build one car with two steering wheels, like a roadsweeper.

That's fairness for you.

It took some doing, but they got there...god help us all!

[Or888t]

Whay hey, thats better, all sorted now.
As said purfect, although i still think a pair of ghosts would of been even more so

[David87]

Excellent! Nice new government with nice new cars. Wouldn't mind one of those XJs, to be honest.

[confused_buyer]

Couldn't help but notice that Brown was despatched to the Palace in a W-reg XJ8 (or possibly a Daimler to be more accurate) whilst Cameron was collected from Portculis House and delivered to the Palace/No. 10 in a '10 plate XJ.

No sentiment in the changing of a PM - as well as the 10 year old car, Brown's police escort was much scaled down on leaving the Palace and he immediately got stuck in a traffic jam on leaving.

[Zad]

I don't think the new car is full security spec. Look at the windows. In the bombproof ones the windows are very thick, and appear to have a wide black reinforcing band around them. Very symbolic of a new order though, no matter how new the other Jags were, they were oldschool design. Im sure it will do JLR's sales no harm whatsoever!

[ukaskew]

Amazed / impressed by the lack of visible security for their little road trips around London last night.

I've clearly been watching too much US TV, as it was quite a shock to see a PM negotiating traffic and being chased by paps with two cars for support.

[turbo-ww]

ukaskew said:

Amazed / impressed by the lack of visible security for their little road trips around London last night.

I've clearly been watching too much US TV, as it was quite a shock to see a PM negotiating traffic and being chased by paps with two cars for support.

I believe he was 5 minutes into being an ex-pm at that stage...

[SystemParanoia]

Camron and the clegg guy need to show up tomorrow with a drop-head coupe.

you cant be a toff without Teak decking

[theironduke]

Does anybody know if Bettys Phantom, of the vintage variety, is armoured? or does she does rely on being surrounded by blokes with shooters?