Castings and extrusions accounted for about 11 percent of the XJ bodyshell. In addition to the rivets, which do not require a predrilled or punched hole, each rivet making its own hole on insertion, the process also uses a small number of nuts, bolts, and spot welds. The stressed aluminium unibody used 15 aluminium castings, 35 extrusions and 284 stampings bonded using 120 yards of robotically-applied, heat-cured, aerospace-grade epoxy adhesives and approximately 3,200 self-piercing zinc-coated, boron steel rivets - Jaguar's first use of self-piercing rivets. Using aluminium rather than steel required new techniques, technological development and production layout along with significant investment. Both chassis and body formed an aluminium unibody structure. The X350's aluminium bodyshell used an aerospace construction method, a hybrid of adhesive bonding and rivet joinery and known as rivet-bonding or riv-bonding - an industry first in volume automotive production. Interior of a 2006 Jaguar Sovereign Body and chassis Production ended in March 2009 after seven years with a total production of 83,566.
The full X350/358 generation largely coincided with Jaguar's ownership by Ford's Premier Automotive Group - until Tata Motors purchased Jaguar in 2008. With an unpainted and highly polished example of its all-alloy body shell on display, the X350 debuted at the 2002 Paris Motor Show. Manufacturing took place at Jaguar's Castle Bromwich Assembly in Birmingham. the XJ's interior was styled by Giles Taylor.
Exterior styling was by principal designer Tom Owen along with Sandy Boyes, under the design directorship of Geoff Lawson, who died midway through the project, and his successor Ian Callum. Styling of the third generation was a conservative evolution of the previous XJ's styling its slatted grille recalling the grille of the original 1968 XJ. The bodyshell ( body in white) was 40 per cent lighter and 50 percent stiffer than its predecessor, despite its increased overall size. The X350 was noted for its advanced electrical systems, self-leveling adaptive air suspension and full aluminium unibody chassis and bodywork, among the first for a mass-produced automobile.
Extended-length models were the longest vehicles Jaguar had manufactured. The Jaguar XJ (X350) is a full-size four-door luxury sedan/saloon manufactured and marketed worldwide by Jaguar for model years 2003–2009 as the third generation of the Jaguar XJ saloon - carrying the internal designation X350 and the internal designation X358, following its 2007 intermediate facelift.īoth the X350 and X358 were available with a six-speed automatic transmission, a range of petrol and diesel engines (V6, V8 and supercharged V8), numerous trim levels - and short wheelbase (2003–2009) or long wheelbase (2005–2009) configurations.