1995: Celebration

March

By 1995 the XJS has been in production for 20 years. On the 24th March Jaguar introduced a number of feature enhancements for the 1995.5 model year cars. Including the Convertible hood which was manufactured from an acrylic material instead of the previously used polyester. This improved strength and ageing. Internal changes included: A new parking brake was introduced and the lever was shorter with a colour-keyed gaiter. The gaiter was made from Ambla on the 4.0 litre models and from Autolux on the V12 models. The hand grip had a soft feel finish with finger contact curved contours. Improvements were made which gave a more positive feel when moving the lever to the off position and gave a high quality ratchet operation sound. Each front seat heater system incorporated a new control module and heater elements. The heater elements had thermostats instead of thermistors to control the temperature. When selected, the heater remained on for up to 12 minutes before switching off automatically, and would not switch back on until selected by the operator. Mechanical changes included: A new driveshaft was introduced on both the automatic and manual 4.0 litre models to reduce noise, vibration and harshness levels. The driveshaft on the automatic models was lengthened to compensate for the shorter engine installation. The driveshaft on the manual models was produced from a single length of tubing. The ABS was changed to the Teves Mk IV-GI system. The control module activated the ABS when the wheel(s) rotated slower than the comparative norm. The rear brake discs were changed to the ventilated disc type which provided additional cooling performance. The disc thickness increased from 10mm to 20mm, in addition, the calliper piston diameter increased from 36mm to 48mm.

May 

Jaguar released a special edition of the 4.0 litre Coupé and Convertible models named “Celebration”. The 4.0 litre Coupé displayed distinctive “Aerosport” diamond-turned alloy wheels, while the Convertible was fitted with optional chromed alloy wheels. External cosmetic changes were minor including Painted twin coachlines and an enamelled gold badge was fitted to the bonnet. Internally: “Leaping cat” emblem embossed on the head rests, Sapwood veneer woodwork came as part of the standard package, Half wood/half leather steering wheel with embossed “growler”

September

The American market tended to introduce the model changes a year after the launch in the rest of the world. The significant change for the American market for 1996 was the deletion of the 4.0 litre and V12 Coupés, the only XJS model now available in this market was the 4.0 litre Convertible. A number of changes were made to the last XJS models and these included a Catalytic Converter – the 4.0 litre XJS had a down-pipe catalytic converter which used palladium as the catalytic material instead of platinum/rhodium which gave improved emission performance. The AJ16 models also had the palladium down-pipe catalytic converter and the palladium/rhodium underfloor catalytic converters. 

For North America only, the XJS models had a couple of modifications, these being: A revised wiring harness to accommodate the installation of a dealer fit voice activated telephone system. New front and rear passenger safety belts. Particularly on the Convertible models, the new safety belts had a reel that could be set to the emergency locking retractor or the automatic locking retractor mode. Pulling the full length of the safety belt out of the reel would engage the automatic mode, allowing the safety belt to retract fully into the reel would return the safety belt to the emergency mode. For Coupé models, the front passenger seat had the revised safety belt mechanism. However, the rear seats retained the standard reel mechanism, but had a new insertion tongue with an integral clamping device. Once the lap section of the safety belt was tightened, the clamping device would grip the safety belt, preventing the lap section from being loosened until the buckle had released. The upper section of the safety belt would still extend and retract on the reel in the normal manner

December

The V12 models were virtually discontinued at this stage and were only made to special order during the last production year. By the end of 1995 sales of the XJS had fallen again with 4884 cars produced. Production was being run down in readiness for the launch of the XK8 in 1996.