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Driving Jaguar's Continuation Lightweight E-Type

Something has happened to sports cars over the past 15-20 years. While reaching ever-higher levels of quantitative dominance the driving experience continues to become more sterile. Stability control, torque vectoring, variable electronic steering racks, lightning-quick dual-clutch automatic transmissions – all these make it easier to harness more power and drive faster than ever before. And yet too often it feels like something is missing. There is a growing divide between the capabilities of the modern performance car and the driver's sense of connection to the experience. In an era like the one we're in now, the Jaguar Lightweight E-Type hits you like a slap in the face. The story of the Lightweight E-Type goes back to 1963, when Jaguar set aside eighteen chassis numbers for a run of "Special GT E-Type" cars. These were factory-built racers with aluminum bodies, powered by the aluminum-block, 3.8-liter inline-six found in Jaguar's C- and D-Type LeMans racecars of the 1950s. Of the eighteen cars slated for production, only twelve were built and delivered to customers in 1964. For the next fifty years, those last six chassis numbers lay dormant, until their rediscovery a couple of years ago in a book in Jaguar's archives. In an era like the one we're in now, the Jaguar Lightweight E-Type hits you like a slap in the face. Jaguar Heritage, a section of Jaguar Land Rover's new Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) division, took on the task of researching the original Lightweight E-Types and developing the methods to create new ones. Every aspect of the continuation Lightweight E-Type, from the development of the tools and molds used to build the cars, to the hand-craftsmanship, reflects doing things the hard way. They may not build them like they used to, but with these six special E-Types, Jaguar comes awfuly close, if not better. Working alongside the design team, Jaguar Heritage made a CAD scan of one side of an original Lightweight E-Type body. That scan was flipped to create a full car's worth of measurements. That ensured greater symmetry and better fit than on the original Lightweight E-Types (which could see five to ten millimeter variance, left-to-right). The scan was also used to perfect the frame, while Jaguar looked through notes in its crash repair books to reverse-engineer the Lightweight E-Type's suspension. The team repurposed a lot of existing tooling for the continuation cars, and developed the rest from analysis of the CAD scan.

2017 Jaguar electric SUV to draw stylistically from C-X75

Jaguar is gearing up to launch its first all-electric model. And given the direction the industry is going – to say nothing of previous reports – it should come as little surprise that it'll be an SUV. And though details are few and far between at this point, some information is beginning to surface. According to British publication Autocar, the forthcoming electric crossover will draw its stylistic inspiration from the C-X75 concept. For those who may not recall (or haven't seen the new Bond flick), the C-X75 was Jaguar's idea for a hybrid hypercar to compete with the likes of the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, and LaFerrari. After initial plans for a turbine powertrain were scrapped in favor of a small twin-charged four-cylinder hybrid, plans for production were ultimately shelved. But the vehicle resurfaced for a starring role in the new 007 film Spectre. If the decision to put a defunct concept in a new movie struck you as odd, reports of the electric crossover's design direction may cast it in new light. By putting the C-X75's design in the public spotlight, Jaguar Land Rover could be preparing us for the SUV's arrival. But then that could prove entirely speculative at this point. The model is set to slot in, size-wise, beneath the new F-Pace, and join a new wave of electric crossovers coming to market. The Tesla Model X will be first when it launches next year, and Audi is expected to launch its Q6 E-Tron Quattro in 2018. The Jaguar could split the difference and surface as soon as 2017. Volvo is also tipped to be preparing an electric crossover based on the XC90 to follow in 2019 as well. It may be too early to speculate on the electric powertrain that will motivate the new Jaguar, tipped to be dubbed E-Pace. However reports that parent company Tata is developing lightweight electric in-wheel hub motors could give us an idea of the direction in which Jaguar could head. Expect it to borrow its aluminum platform from the XE and F-Pace, with production potentially to be undertaken by Magna Steyr in Austria. Of course, the E-Pace won't be the company's only EV. It has several prototypes in the works, and we can expect it to roll out additional production models in the coming year.

2022 Jaguar I-Pace gets quicker charging and better in-car tech

Jaguar's electric I-Pace crossover is entering the 2022 model year with small but meaningful technology updates under the sheet metal. It takes less time to charge, and it offers passengers a more intuitive infotainment system. Spotting the visual changes made to the I-Pace requires an impressively well-trained eye. Designers added Atlas Gray accents on the grille, and a Bright Pack joins an updated Black Pack on the list of options, but Jaguar's first EV looks largely the same. Aruba, Caldera Red, Portofino Blue, and Eiger Gray appear on the palette of available colors. It's what's inside that counts for 2022. The I-Pace gains a cabin air ionization system with 2.5PM filtration and a new infotainment system called Pivo Pro already announced for the European-spec model. Shared with the Land Rover Defender among other models in the corporate portfolio, it lets users access up to 90% of common tasks from the home screen in two taps or less, according to the manufacturer. One of the new features packed into the software is an EV-specific navigation system that shows available charging stations along the selected route and provides an estimate of how long drivers will have to wait before their car charges. Motorists can choose the charging stations they want to stop at, regardless of waiting times and charging speeds, or they can let Pivi Pro select the ones it thinks will get them to their destination with the least downtime.  Speaking of charging, the now-standard 11-kilowatt onboard charger zaps the I-Pace's lithium-ion battery pack with up to 63 miles of driving range in 15 minutes when it's connected to a 100-kilowatt DC charger. The crossover's maximum driving range remains pegged at 234 miles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Jaguar is not making major mechanical changes to the I-Pace for 2022, and the high-performance variant we wrote about in 2019 hasn't landed yet, so the crossover carries on with a pair of electric motors (one per axle) that jointly develop 394 horsepower and 512 pound-feet of torque. Jaguar quotes a brisk 4.5-second sprint from zero to 60 mph thanks in part to the through-the-road all-wheel-drive system.  Pricing for the 2022 Jaguar I-Pace starts at $69,900 before destination and incentives enter the equation. Interestingly, it's now only available in a single trim level called HSE; the S and SE models have been dropped from the lineup.