Jaguar makes some beautifully styled cars that always look elegant, premium and desirable, even though they’re still proving inferior to their Euro and Japanese rivals in some areas. One area where they are up there with the serious Germans is in the way they update their models from generation to generation.

Jaguar is doing this exactly like the Germans, and it’s been doing so for three or four decades now. I mean, there are visual ties between modern Jags and old ones, just like BMWs or Mercedes.

The British automaker may be British at heart and Indian at the bank, but their approach to building cars and then more cars after that is deeply German. I don’t know if they started doing this at the same time the boring Germans did, but it is a similar approach.

I wouldn’t have thought to write this article if the new XF wasn’t so similar to both the old XF, the new XE and the “generic older Jaguar pedigree” as well. It looks like a bigger XE, with a more plush and larger version of that car’s interior, as well as more tech. The most flamboyant thing about the new XF are its rear lights, which thankfully are far sexier than those of its smaller brother.

The problem is we don’t want more German cars. We have them being made in Germany (and now Mexico, China, Hungary or Brazil) and we really don’t want any more of this evolutionary style crap they can’t stop giving us.

We keep bitching and moaning about this because it makes for boring journalism and you (the readers) understandably lose interest in reading about the same things over and over again, but with better efficiency and a newer and newer model year.

What Jaguar is doing is safe but not innovative; the only thing they did to boost their image was the C-X75 hybrid hypercar, and the XF F-Type to a certain extent (it’s their equivalent of the Mercedes SLS and now AMG GT, with a pinch of E-Type magic). Original? Nope.

And Jaguar could do so much more than the Germans ever could with its brand image. They should really exploit Ian Callum’s talents and make something nicer and more flamboyant, like what Maserati is doing, although that doesn’t seem to be doing them all that many favors – Maserati sales are never constant and/or a sure thing.

It’s actually the example of why Jaguar is going down the boring/predictable path that it is now: unique, flamboyant cars that may carry a price premium and come with some quirks don’t sell en masse like silver saloons do.

So come on Jaguar, at least impress us with the upcoming XK replacement and a new and more flamboyant XJ! We know, though, that the latter will be a larger XF with more stuff on it. At least the current XJ has some design flair and unique character in that it’s sportier than its rivals to drive but loses to them for practicality and luxury.

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