TOP CAT Jaguar leaps into the 21st century

摘要

Jaguar is in a gooa place. It was touch and go for a while-a long while-but now the storied British marque's future finally looks secure. Moreover, it looks exciting. The talented and passionate Ian Callum has given today's Jaguars a modern, sexy, distinctive design language, while hard-driving dynamics chief Mike Cross has ensured they have the agile, catlike handling the leaper badge always promised. Jaguar now is an industry leader in lightweight aluminum body construction, its supercharged V-6 and V-8 engines are pleasingly punchy, and the old reputation for poor quality and part-time electrics is a distant memory. And people are paying attention: Tobias Moers, head of Mercedes-Benz's in-house hot shop AMG, says its potent R-cars are the reason Jaguar is now one of the two automakers his guys watch the closest. (The other? It's not BMW, or Audi. It's Cadillac. Apparently the CTS-V has made quite an impression in Affalterbach.)