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Jay Leno's Garage drives Steve McQueen's 1956 Jaguar XKSS

Steve McQueen might be the coolest American male of the 20th century. With movies like Bullitt and Le Mans, McQueen established himself as the king of cool of his era, and on the list of actors you would pick for a fantasy racing team - he or Paul Newman are the natural first choices. The latest Jay Leno's Garage video highlights one of McQueen's most special cars - a 1956 Jaguar XKSS.
Just 16 XKSS models were made because a fire at the Jaguar factory halted production. It was meant to be a street version of the company's very successful D-Type racer, with a modified version of its 3.4-liter straight-six-engine and a four-speed manual gearbox. McQueen clearly had an eye for great vehicles. He drove his Jag around Los Angeles years after it was a cutting-edge piece of technology. Since then, it became part of the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA. Autoblog's The List even took a ride in it when the show visited the museum.
The XKSS is one of the pinnacles of automotive design of the '50s, and its association with McQueen makes this example even more extraordinary. Leno is in love with the car from the moment he sees it, and it's hard to argue with him. Between its emphasized curves and raspy exhaust, this is one sexy Jag. Scroll down to get an eyeful and earful from one of McQueen's favorite cars.

Jaguar's electric speedboat smashes decade-old record

We knew Jaguars prowl on dry land, but apparently they dabble with water, too. Jaguar teamed up with powerboat racing specialist Vector and Williams Advanced Engineering to beat the existing British and world records for fastest battery-powered boat with some expertise from Jaguar's Formula E team. The team had to top 76.8 mph, a record set in 2008 by Helen Loney in her Firefly electric hydroplane with Agni motors. The attempt was made in the same location, Coniston Water in the English Lake District, where speedboat record runs have been made since the days of Sir Malcolm Campbell as early as the 1930s, and son Sir Donald Campbell into the 1950s and 1960s – including the fateful record attempt that cost the younger Campbell his life in 1967. The company's documented the attempt in the video shown above. It reveals that the 2008 record wasn't easy to beat. At first, pilot and Jaguar Vector co-founder Peter Dredge managed to get the boat to 76.6 mph – annoyingly close to, and just under, the record. But a later run rewarded the team's efforts, with a clear improvement of nearly 12 mph, making the new record 88.61 miles per hour. This achievement is also impressive considering that Jaguar and Vector only announced their partnership in October 2017, so progress has been swift. The tech in the boat is reportedly derived from Formula E technology, though Jaguar Vector and Williams Advanced Engineering have not disclosed the boat's exact specifications nor what parts are based on Jaguar Formula E car parts. Related Video: Green Jaguar Electric Racing Vehicles Videos williams advanced engineering

All-electric Jaguar XJ coming soon on platform shared with 'Road Rover'

We've been posting on the likelihood of electric Jaguars for a while now, especially the XJ leading the charge as a new EV flagship. Rumors at the beginning of 2018 predicted an XJ EV on our doorstep by the end of 2018, the 50th anniversary year of the XJ. By April this year, it was looking like the battery-powered XJ would use the I-Pace platform and make an appearance sometime in 2019. Now, Automotive News Europe reports that during Jaguar Land Rover's Investor's Day presentations, the automaker said it would debut a "large SUV and a large premium sedan" on its Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) suitable for EVs, hybrids and traditional ICE-powered cars. The sedan in question is the next-gen XJ. Nick Rogers, JLR's product engineering boss, said electric MLA vehicles will get 90.2-kWh batteries that return range of up to 400 kilometers (292 miles) on the European cycle. That would effectively be the same size battery as the I-Pace, which rides on its own one-off platform, and the same range; in the U.S., the I-Pace is rated at 234 miles. It's said the XJ's design, produced by former Jaguar design chief Ian Callum and his team, has already been cleared. It swaps the four-door body for a five-door, a la the Audi A7, and introduces a new design language for the car and the carmaker. Car and Driver says the new statement sedan aims to be "a cutting-edge alternative to the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class," and Autocar saying it will "remain Jaguar's flagship in preference to a large SUV, such as the rumored J-Pace." The point of introducing the EV first is to establish the car's technology and sporting credentials — hopefully before the Porsche Taycan and Audi E-Tron GT arrive. Eventually, an ICE version of the XJ powered by an Ingenium inline-six should come; that will welcome buyers not ready to make the all-EV switch, a necessary move in keeping with the XJ's competition for global sales with the S-Class and 7 Series. However, leaving room in the design for a conventional drivetrain will force compromises that the all-electric competition doesn't face. Production of the current XJ ends at the Castle Bromwich facility on July 5. The new sedan is slated to be "announced in the near future" and built at JLR's plant in Solihull, which assembles Land Rover products. The same MLA platform will support a road-focused Land Rover as a sibling to the XJ, dubbed the "Road Rover" internally.