No, you didn’t read the headline wrong. On March 24 in London, the new 2016 Jaguar XF will perform a daring stunt that no other car before has attempted: a high-wire water crossing.
A press release from Jaguar Land Rover stated today that the British marque has teamed up with Jim Dowdall, an expert stuntman who has worked on the Bond series, Jason Bourne trilogy and Indiana Jones films. Dowdall will be assisting the Jaguar XF across a body of water on two wires as it makes its worldwide debut.
It’s not entirely clear which body of water the XF will be crossing, but we know it’s scheduled for a live performance at 2 pm EST on March 24. Just a week after this stunt is performed, the full technical specs and official public debut will occur April 1 at the New York International Auto Show.
The release does let us know that the XF has an estimated fuel economy of more than 70 mpg, and is a complete rework of the existing XF, “new from the ground up.” Its architecture is heavily aluminum, and we hope to see some of Jaguar’s newest developments incorporated into the design.
In Dec. 2014, Jaguar introduced their Virtual Windshield technology, which creates some incredible visual cues to act as driver’s assist programs. It provides the illusion of 360 degrees of vision thanks to a thin film placed on the A, B and C pillars that generates an image of what is in that blind spot. It also works in conjunction with navigation programs to create the image of a car in front of you. Check it out in the video above, uploaded to YouTube by Jaguar Dec. 14, 2014.
Stay with us for updates on this daring high-water crossing and the release of new information regarding the XF. In the meantime, check out the first generation of the XF, launched in 2007, by browsing our listings at the button below.