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The XF factor
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14/04/2008
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Ian Adcock reports on how the close partnership between design and engineering led to the production version of the XF – a car of crucial importance to Jaguar’s future and one which remains largely faithful to the original conceptThe relationship between design and other departments such as manufacturing, engineering and accounting has traditionally been tense one. The situation has been complicated by the need to accommodate legal requirements such as crash – frontal impact, pedestrian protection or airbags – or interior packaging. Whatever car designers want to achieve there seems to be a government official, engineer, accountant or manufacturing supremo saying no, or at the very least: “Well if you compromised this or accepted that lower specification we could make it work.”
This is why at Ford of Europe, Claudio Messale’s job title is chief designer, exterior execution and feasibility. It’s his job to make sure the designs executed by Martin Smith’s team are not compromised for production.
Of course it helps if the designer and the chief programme manager gel, that there’s a rapport between them.
Ian Callum, Jaguar design director and t
he man responsible for the new XF saloon’s radical looks, says: “Fortunately for me Mick [Mahon, chief programme engineer], like me, has had a passion for Jaguar since he was very young and he picked up very quickly that design matters, and what the issues were and have been.”
The brand’s founder, Sir William Lyons, placed a great deal of emphasis on design, as some of the great Jaguars from the 1950s and ’60s demonstrate, culminating in the iconic E-Type. Yet in recent years Jaguar’s design has foundered in a retro heritage vein, most recently the technically excellent but passé XJ series.
“When I arrived at Jaguar it was very much led by engineering with dynamics and cost at the forefront and almost a case of ‘Well you guys just style them nicely.’ To me that was somewhat ironic as Lyons whole mission in life was that it was about style as much as engineering.
“Jaguar had lost its way as far as I could see, so I started a strong internal PR campaign to bring home the whole idea that design is not secondary and is as important as anything else because that’s what people see, especially with the then mish-mash of design, models with the retro heritage style. I had to pick up design and run with it with a capital D.
“That was an ongoing process and by the time we got to XK it was starting to happen. It had to be very stylish. Admittedly it wasn’t without its issues in the process, but it was well understood.”
The XF is described as “the most important car in Jaguar’s history”, which is surely close to the truth, especially with the company’s impending sale – which will probably have been determined by the time this is published.
Callum recalls how Phil Hodgkinson, the chief programme director, made it quite clear to the team that they had to put all their energy into this product in a very concise and direct way – it had to work.
That message came from the very top when Mark Fields was there; this car had to be special and that dictate went through every department.
“There was a huge amount of pressure, just knowing that this car had to be beyond expectations. It couldn’t be just another S-Type but had to go way beyond that,” he says.
“What was interesting was that we came up with a radical design solution for Jaguar. Fortunately the higher levels within the company were in total agreement that we should do something different, there was no resistance to a new design direction.”
Moreover the whole team were working to a very tight timeframe. This was one of the reasons the XF did not follow the XJ’s aluminium structure as this would have added time and money to the programme as well as compromising Callum’s design.
“Jaguar is a world leader in the use of aluminium,” says Callum, “but it’s difficult to work with and would have compromised the car’s style. Having said that, we’re learning more about how to use the material all the time and I think in the future it will become a cornerstone of the brand.”
Historically, says Callum, engineers and designers try to second guess each other, but that did not happen with him and Mahon. “When Mick told me something wasn’t going to happen because of cost, I knew that was the truth. Equally, though, there were things that Mick fought for and got because he knew the car wouldn’t be as good without them.”
From the project’s start it was envisaged that the XF would have a mono side panel. This is a big pressing at the best of times, but was made even more complex by the depth of the draw around the rear shoulder running into the C post. The easy solution would have been to make it a two-piece pressing with a seam at the base of the C post, but that would have spoilt the car’s aesthetics.
“It wasn’t easy to achieve,” says Mahon, “but I was determined the design wasn’t going to be compromised even though manufacturing said it wasn’t feasible. In the end it took 60 attempts at the body-in-white CAE and CAD programs – and they’re big number crunchers that can take days to run – to get the result we wanted but we did and everyone acknowledges it was worth the effort.”
The devil is very much in the detail and can often go unnoticed unless it is highlighted. Look closely at the rear door DLO brightwork. “I didn’t like the idea of that being in two pieces so I managed to persuade the suppliers to extrude it as single element,” says Mahon.
Callum adds: “That’s great from a styling point of view because it frees us up to be more creative on future products.”
One of the XF’s highlights is its interior. It retains traditional Jaguar materials of wood and leather but reinterprets them in a contemporary manner.
The rising helix gear selector (pictured above) and the eyelid air vents that rotate to open as the car is started are what catch the occupants’ attention. “We wanted the interior to be special and all of these solutions came about by the design and engineering teams sitting down together and jointly developing solutions. It was often the case where an engineer would come in and suggest solutions and ideas for us to work on,” says Callum.
Mahon adds: “We shared the same vision about the XF and fought to achieve it. OK, we didn’t win all the battles – you never do – but I was determined to get as much as we possibly could.”
The vents are a complex piece of engineering with a rotating cylinder intersecting an inclined plane. It would have been easy for Mahon’s team to say “Can’t do”, but Callum and Mahon give the impression that such words were not used very much during the XF’s development.
An example is the blue halo lighting round the centre console switch gear. “It was on my ‘nice to have list’,” says advanced interiors manager Alister Whelan, “but I never expected to get it.”
Mahon says: “As soon as I saw that I knew I had to find a way of getting it into the car, and I am so pleased we did.”
So what do Callum and Mahon put this harmonious relationship between their two teams down to?
Mahon: “I think it goes back to the early phases of the programme when the team were just coming up with more and more ideas, continually trying to be creative, and from that confidence just blossomed. No one was passing the parcel and expecting their colleagues to just get on with it and do it. It was a joint effort right across the team.”
Callum: “That circle of energy was very important and took in everyone. We had engineers coming in saying ‘Why don’t you try this or that?’ Creativity is not just about styling cars but about creating something, whether that’s nuts, bolts, the way to make something, the way to stamp something, that’s creativity.
“When someone like Mick says to me ‘We’re going to give you guys what you need’ it makes you work harder because you can’t let these people down. You’ve finally got the opportunity to do something special, there are no excuses, and that’s a huge motivator to work very, very hard.”
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Author
Ian Adcock
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