1952 Jaguar Xk120 Ots (open Two Seater) on 2040-cars

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Jaguar deletes decade's worth of Instagram posts, fuels speculation

Jaguar has made the enigmatic decision of deleting about a decade's worth of posts from its official Instagram account. The company then fueled speculation by posting three close-up images that show the XJR-9 (pictured), a prototype that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1988. The three posts are captioned "flash back," "genesis" and "prologue," respectively. The first shows part of the cover fitted over the XJR-9's passenger-side rear wheel arch, the second shows the top part of the rear end, and the third shows a center-locking wheel. What's odd is that there is no big anniversary linked to the car: the XJR-9 won its last race during the 1989 season and it stopped racing shortly after. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. And, even if there was a major anniversary for the firm to celebrate, what's the point of deleting hundreds of posts? We know that Jaguar hopes to become an electric-only brand by 2030, so it's not unreasonable to assume that it might want a fresh start, but that's three years away. And, why mark the beginning of what's marketed as new era with photos of a car that was powered by a mid-mounted 7.0-liter V12? While this is pure speculation, we have two possible answers. First, a limited-edition version of an existing car inspired by the XJR-9 could be around the corner. The 2022 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans starts on June 11, so we could see it there. Alternatively, the Goodwood Festival of Speed will open its doors on June 23 and run until June 26; that's another plausible venue for the hypothetical unveiling. Second, the brand could be preparing to announce a return to endurance racing after a long hiatus. Porsche, BMW, Lamborghini and Cadillac are among the companies that will race in the upcoming LMDh category, which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jaguar ended Porsche's winning streak in 1988; is posting photos of the XJR-9 on Instagram a way to announce it's digging up the hatchet? Keep in mind that none of this is official. All we know for sure at this point is that the brand's SV division will reveal a new car on June 1, 2022. It posted a preview image on its Instagram account, which is separate from the main Jaguar account and whose posts are still up. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Jaguar C-Type Continuation available for 8 lucky people

Is Jaguar testing an electrified XE?

Rumors about Jaguar Land Rover moving further into electrification for its models have been circulating for the last several months. Thanks to some new spy shots, there's even more evidence that the company could have a hybrid or electric model on the way. According to our spies, this rather innocuous looking XE was spied with a group of camouflaged XF and F-Pace prototypes in Spain. Everything about the luxury sedan looks fairly stock until you see the rear end. There, just under the taillight, is a circular blue badge with an "E" in it. That emblem and the vehicle being with other test cars hints at the possibility of Jaguar doing something electrified with the vehicle. Unfortunately, there are no other clues here to determine exactly what is happening underneath the skin. Jaguar Land Rover has been insinuating its intention to build greener models for a while. The company even founded an engineering center partially for them in 2013. A fully electric powertrain is reportedly under development to slot into the F-Pace and maybe also for a Land Rover. Meanwhile, Jag has a trademark on the name EV-Type. With these new photos, the signs of JLR's coming electrification continue to mount.

Our 2018 Jaguar F-Pace has an infuriating shifter

Let me preface this by saying that I quite enjoy our long-term 2018 Jaguar F-Pace. Its quick, handsome and pretty good on a road trip. It handles well for a crossover, too. My biggest gripe with the F-Pace is the interior, and my biggest gripe with the interior is the damned rotary shifter. I've never fought a vehicle so much just to get it to shift into reverse and neutral. I have a tendency to rant, but usually offline, in the company of friends and under the influence of a few drinks. I've spent a lot of time behind the wheel of the F-Pace, and an incident this week in an automatic car wash this week prompted this post. Simply put, it took probably 10 seconds for me to get it to shift into neutral and another 10 seconds to get it back into drive. This is annoying in any situation, but when you're holding up a line of cars trying to wash off a thick layer of salt and ice, it's infuriating. The rotary shifter simply wouldn't rotate into either drive or reverse. This might be user error and it might be exclusive to our particular F-Pace, but I don't recall have the same issue in our XE (I admittedly drove it less) and I definitely have never had such problems with other shifters. Not even the BMW-style fixed rocker type or weird handle ones in the Toyota Prius. I even consulted the owner's manual to make sure I'm doing it properly. The only thing I can think of is that I'm not putting enough pressure on the brake pedal while turning the dial. Yet, even those editors who haven't experienced this problem admit that the design has lost its way. Jaguar introduced the rotary shifter in the original XF back in 2009. At the time, its housing was compact and offset, serving the functional purpose of freeing up space for center console storage (as you can see in the photo above). The same concept was later applied to the Jaguar XJ and copied in the Ram 1500. Now, compare that design to the shifter in the F-Pace (as well as the XE and current XF). It's right in the center with a bezel that takes up as much room as the shift boot on a manual transmission. There's no added storage benefit and the surrounding piano black trim collects dust and fingerprints like a forensics squad. In other words, instead of a space efficiency solution, it's a space-robbing novelty that drives me nuts at the car wash. Related Video: Image Credit: Jeremy Korzeniewski, Jaguar Design/Style Jaguar Long-Term Garage Crossover SUV Luxury Performance jaguar f-pace jaguar f-pace s