For 30 years, Jaguar design has been mired in what Aaron Bragman, an auto analyst for Global Insight of Troy, Michigan, calls "English drawing-room style"—as in, conservative sedans and sports cars accented with traditional wood and leather. The average Jaguar buyer was almost 60, and they were mostly loyalists who'd owned the cars before.

The stodginess was somewhat understandable, since for many years the managers at Ford Motor had a host of other problems to tackle. After paying $2.5 billion for the fabled British carmaker in 1989, their first task was to fix the horrific quality of the cars. There were also thousands of excess workers, ancient factories, and outdated, expensive production methods. Ford added new models in order to expand sales, but the S-Type midsize sedan of 1998 was only a modest hit. The X-Type compact sedan, launched in 2002, was savaged by critics. Plans that called for more than doubling Jaguar sales—to 200,000 a year, across four models—were left in the dust.

Two years ago, the company decided Jaguar—by then hemorrhaging cash—would have to become a much lower-volume maker of more exclusive and expensive cars. Then this month, Ford completed its sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to India's Tata Motors for far less than Ford had paid.

Now, a brand-new model is charged with blowing that dusty old image into the weeds and reviving Jag's old reputation as a maker of fast, beautiful cars that cost less than the competition. Launched in the U.S. just three months ago, the XF midsize sedan is the first Jaguar with avant-garde styling in, well, decades. Its mission is to yank the brand into a new century, make it relevant to buyers born in the '60s or later, and put it back onto lists starting with "Cool" and "Coveted." (View slideshow.)

It's the early days yet, but Ford's gift to the new owner is showing promise. The question is whether Tata can build on a few months of momentum and succeed where Ford failed.

When the C-XF concept was revealed at the North American International Auto Show in January 2007, jaws dropped. It was sleek, aggressive, and undeniably modern. Gone were the gentleman's-club wood and leather. There was wood, but charred with blowtorches to create a blackened finish. Jaguar's design chief Ian Callum called the process "liberating," underlining just how decisive a break with the past the C-XF was.

The production XF, unveiled at September's Frankfurt Motor Show, isn't quite as radical. The compromises come from having to meet regulations on everything from light height to pedestrian safety, but the fastback shape, high tail, and slit-like lights remain. The "leaper"—the chrome jaguar in mid-pounce—is still banished from atop the grille. In fact, there's hardly a grille at all, just a low, rectangular maw with a mesh screen to keep out debris.