Jaguar XJ facelift seen in the open without camouflage

Jaguar’s latest test mule for the facelifted XJ has shed even more camouflage, as seen in these spy shots taken outside Jaguar Land Rover’s Gaydon engineering centre.

It’s the first time we’ve seen the luxury saloon up close and, despite a small amount of black wrap concealing the front and rear bumpers and lights, these images don’t leave much to the imagination. Compared to the current XJ, the biggest visual change appears to be the revised, chunkier air intakes, which are separated from the lower grille by more angular lines that run up the entire front fascia and flow into the sculpted bonnet. There’s a new mesh for the slightly tweaked grille by the looks of it, too, alongside a reconfigured headlight layout.

At the rear it’s largely business as usual as well, although Jaguar appears to have cut some of the XJ’s bulk lower down, whilst also taking the opportunity to fit twin oval exhausts.

We’ve not yet seen how things look on the inside, but expect a similar range of modest updates, with an emphasis on new in-car tech ahead of a styling overhaul. Instead, as we reported when a reader first glimpsed the XJ testing a few months back, key improvements are likely to focus on the chassis setup and engine line-up, which could now include JLR’s new four-cylinder Ingenium engine family.

We’ll keep you posted as more details emerge, however Jaguar isn’t giving much away at this stage. It’s possible the facelifted XJ could debut later this year, before arriving in showrooms early 2015.

Find out everything we know about the new Jaguar XE here.