BERTONE B99 : The Revival of The Lost Soul

Jaguar, a fame of British luxury automobile and a gentleman's choice for decades, has been re-interpreted by a world renowed Italian Coachbuilder "Carrozeria Bertone" and resulted in the breathraking yet familiar character , the Bertone B99. The Jaguar design signature that we are familiar is the work of Sir William Lyon, the XJ6 of 1968. The design heritage of Sir William Lyon has continued for almost 4 decades until 2009 when it was completely changed by new XJ (X351) under the lead of Ian Cullum the new customer who has never owned a Jaguar. The work of Ian Cukkum, whether stunning it splits apinion and raise a question among Jag's fan that is it a true Jag?

The name B99 stands for B as in Bertone And 99 for the company near 100 year anniversary in 2012, one of the oldest design companies in the world and Bertone is the only Italian coachbuilder who has made 5 concept cars for Jaguar since 1957. The concept projects Jaguar's classic style into the future with refined Bertone elegance, exploring a fascinating new from language with a "dynamic imbalance" between parallel lines and leaping forms. The result is a compact, four-door sedan (4.5 m long, 1.35 m tall, 1.95 m wide, 2.8 m wheelbase). Starting with a classic three-volume architecture, Bertone designers have shaped the taut, muscular body with bold yet refined character, entirely constructed with handmade alumunum panels in true Italian "Coachbuilder" tradition. The unique personality of the luxury sports sedan is emphasized by the sophisticated minimalism outside and in, underlining the true nature of the British authenticity where understatement equals exclusiveness.

Start from the brand. This is the concept that Mike  Robinson, Bertone Brand & Design Director, gives his design team for every project. As an outside design source Bertone must do a lot of catching up on what in house designers take for granted: a deep knowledge of what their brand was is, and will be. So Robinson's team began in late October 2010 with a pre-sketch research program called "From Cats to Cars", exploring all the possible analogies coming from this spectacular feline from Central and South America. In fact ancient Aztecs and Mayans wa\orshipped this noble predator for its cunning tactics and sheer power, calling it "Jaguar", meaning "he who kills with one leap"

These big cats can reach 160kgs and are very stock with powerful but short legs designed specifically for a silent, "stalk and ambush" approach to hunting, sneaking slowly through the bushes low to the ground until their powerful pounce concludes the hunt. This stealth or silent approach to hunting is very different from other large feline species that run down their prey with long agile legs like the Cheetah.

This icon has conditioned Jaguar car design for decades and continues to weigh strongly on the overall balance and proportions of Jaguar automobiles past, present, and future. Unlike other high performance sports cars, Jaguars are designed for "wafting" or floating down the boulevard in silent grace.

So every Jaguar must be smooth and silent and lighting fast, yet still a most elegant and noble automobile. The visual metaphors between the animal the company name represents, the logo and the milestone cars from the past are extremely important for the understanding of the Jaguar brand. And old Jaguar slogan was: "Grace, Space & Pace". Bertone research for the B99 concept could be summed up in : "Cunning Glamour with Race-Bred Innovation".