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The delights that are Christmas deadlines mean that I’m sitting down to write these words in mid-December, yet the earliest date you will be reading them will be 9 January. So, if Jaguar has announced its return to F1 in the interim – I apologise for having missed it in this issue. However, given the current economic climate, the sight of pigs formation flying through the night sky in pursuit of dodos is more likely… That’s not to say Jaguar has had a bad 2008, far from it in fact. The early part of the year saw the success of the international XF launch in the US cemented by the even more successful European launch of the car. The latter was particularly crucial as it introduced the diesel-engined XF to the world’s buying public, and it is this model that has secured the bulk of sales since then. In 2008 around 80 per cent of all UK Jaguar XF sales were for the diesel model – and they sold in good numbers too, which was great news since the onset of the credit crunch saw sales of the XJ and XK slow. Despite the tough times for Jaguar’s two most expensive models, the success of the XF and a rejuvenated post-facelift X-TYPE meant that the latest figures available as this issue closed for press showed that, year on year to the end of November, Jaguar’s overall UK 2008 sales were still up by 9.78 per cent. But, amidst persistent rumours of imminent government loans to UK car manufacturers, Jaguar Land Rover amongst them (see page 8), those last figures also contained a warning. For the first time in several months, the figures for November showed a decline in Jaguar registrations compared to the same month in 2007. Though some of that change in fortunes may have been due to customers waiting for the reduction in VAT to come into effect, times are certainly tough for all manufacturers at the moment, and particularly for Land Rover.