The Globe and Mail

Today, right now as you read this, Jaguar Cars is officially taking the wraps off the restyled and reengineered 2010 XJ saloon.

The luxury car arm of India's Tata Motors has high, high hopes for the new Jag flagship that is slated to go on sale in the fall. And it's a daring car.

The 41-year-old XJ's basic look is all gone. The new car has finally joined the 21st century. After four decades of holding strong to a design created in 1968, a year before Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Jaguar is looking forward.

You and I are both asking: What took them so long?

There is no easy answer. Part of it is that Ford's ownership (1989-2008) locked Jag's cars in a time capsule, while at the same time thoroughly modernizing production methods.

But enough of the past.

Jaguar's chief designer, the Scotsman Ian Callum, frankly is sick of the past. He's been at the styling helm for a decade and it's been his job to bring Jaguar's designs into the age of iPods and Twitter.

He gave me a exclusive, one-on-one briefing this week prior to today's unveiling. It was illuminating and not just because I saw the car outside, driving in the sort of natural light designers insist on having. They need it to get a true appreciation of the subtleties of shape and texture and form.

Then we went into the studio. Outside, security guards were on 24-hour patrol to keep prying eyes away. Car companies jealously guard their new designs, though often to limited affect.

Jeremy Cato for The Globe and Mail

Chief designer Ian Callum says the new XJ is true to the principles of Jaguar. The new car has a sporty profile – a coupe-with-four-doors look – “pure surfaces, great graphics” and it's thoroughly modern in every way.

In any case, Callum indulged me for two hours. He's soft-spoken but hugely passionate about Jaguar. The brand is in his soul. He admits that 10 years is a long time in any job, but now he's not sure he can or even wants to do anything else.

But he'll have to if this car does not resonate with the public and with buyers. This Jag really is a make-or-break model.

Sure, sure, the midsize XF is selling well and it has showcased the look Callum and his 25 designers have settled on in terms of general “design language” for the Jag line.

But the XJ takes the new Jag look to another level entirely.

“It's very much a sports coupe profile and that's very deliberate; we are a sports car company,” he said.

“We also were very conscious of the fact that we did not want to do a very large XF. We wanted to do something which was an XJ in its own right...I wanted it to be quite clearly part of the Jaguar family, but on the other hand I did not want too much familiarity.”

Nonetheless, the flagship is the flagship and the face of the company in the 21st century.

Callum told me the new XJ is true to the principles of Jag, going back to founder Sir William Lyons and his original Swallow Sidecar Company. The new car has a sporty profile – a coupe-with-four-doors look – “pure surfaces, great graphics” and it's thoroughly modern in every way.

He hasn't overlooked the XJ's rivals, either.

“It's a much more dynamic car visually that some of its competitors, and probably physically as well.”

This XJ will shock some, without question. It looks nothing at all like the outgoing XJ – the XJ that does not look terribly different than the original 1968 car.

“The challenge to me was how far we could push it,” he told me. “My final judgment of the car is: Would (Sir) William Lyons approve of this car? I think he would, absolutely.”

More details to come here and elsewhere in Globe Auto.