Jaguar has for too long been a company that has put its money on black only to see its numbers come up red.

Bought by Ford in 1989 to become the blue oval's money-shot in the lucrative luxury-car market, Jaguar's staid image and conservatively styled cars have only contributed to successive years of financial losses and declining sales.

The gambling utopia of Monte Carlo is a fitting launch venue, then, for Jaguar's new XF sedan, a car that even the British car maker admits is effectively its last throw of the dice.