Two weeks ago, we published an interview with Valeo Lighting CEO Maurizio Martinelli, who elucidated his company’s strategy and philosophy. In this week’s followup, we scrutinise some of Valeo’s latest lighting work in detail: the lights on the new Jaguar XJ. Our in-depth analysis of the system will prime you to see the car (and its lights) for yourself starting next week at IAA, the Frankfurt motor show.
I had the pleasure to spend a day with Valeo at Angers (France) before going on to Gaydon, England—close to Birmingham—to make a night drive of the XJ. This grand test drive included Jaguar and Valeo lighting experts. In this week’s newsletter you’ll find my assessment of the lighting system’s performance, which I liked quite a lot. It gives a perfect homogeneity of the light even in the curves and when the dynamic bending light is working, a large spread of the light which gives a great comfort in driving, and remarkable addition of low beam and high beam which gives one of the best high beams I have ever seen. I only regreted that the system was not equipped with ADB.
During the night drive and the dinner before it, I was impressed by the interest of Jaguar in lighting. I knew that styling is a priority for Jaguar, but I didn’t realise the extent of lighting knowledge and interest at this company.
My intent with this presentation is that you get to better know Valeo and Jaguar with respect to their strategy and their technologies.
Next month, we will shift our focus to AL and a new Volkswagen product.
Sincerely yours,
DVN Editor in Chief