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King Charles' electric I-Pace goes to auction next month

Never mind the Bentley State Limousines, the Aston Martin DB6 Volante that Queen Elizabeth II bought him on his 21st birthday, or the Rolls-Royce Phantom VI valued at more than $600,000. The car of the moment, if we’re talking about the garage of King Charles III of England, is a far more ordinary — and all-electric — Jaguar I-Pace purchased in 2018 by His Majesty “for his personal use." The royal Jag is set to be auctioned off March 2 at the famed Ascot Racecourse; estimated selling price is as high as $88,000. If you miss out on the auction of a president's former ride, here's one from a king. The SUV, notable as the first all-electric vehicle to be embraced by the royal family, is the range-topping I-Pace EV400 HSE all-wheel-drive luxury five-seater that the king — prince of Wales at the time — bought in September 2018 for $75,000. According to the auction site, the Jag was "purchased with his own money." Charles had Jaguar install a fast charger at Clarence House, his residence. The vehicle was returned to a Jaguar dealership after two years — itÂ’s not clear if it had been leased — with only 3,000 miles on the clock. Subsequently, the SUV was sold to one Karen French of Oxfordshire. She said in a statement offered by Historics Auctioneers, “This I-Pace was exactly what I was looking for and pretty much on my doorstep. It was only when I agreed to buy it that I discovered its extraordinary history — I was absolutely thrilled. Having driven it over 30,000 miles,” she added, ”I decided in the New Year that it was time for a change.” Noted by the auctioneers in typical British understatement, the high-specification car was uniquely finished in Loire Blue and remains the only I-Pace “to be painted in this colour, whilst those inside the car enjoyed a sumptuous, contrasting leather interior in, fittingly, Light Oyster Windsor.” A revised Jaguar I-Pace is scheduled to arrive next year. Regarding the KingÂ’s affection for automobiles — British automobiles — he reportedly overseas a fleet worth more than $17 million. And while heÂ’s fond of driving conventional vehicles, he told the BBC some years ago that “my old Aston Martin, which I've had for 51 years, runs on — can you believe this — surplus English white wine, and whey from the cheese process.” Essentially the classic had been converted to run on E85 bio-ethanol. "The engineers at Aston said, 'Oh, it'll ruin the whole thing,'" Charles shared with The Telegraph in 2018.

Aston Martin CEO calls Tesla Model S 'Ludicrous' mode stupid

To be fair, some would say paying as much as a quarter-million dollars for a car in itself qualifies as "ludicrous." But the CEO of Aston Martin, a company that is readying a pricier electric-vehicle competitor to the Tesla Model S, didn't mince words in discussing Tesla's newest gizmo that can propel the sedan from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than three seconds. In fact, Andy Palmer, Aston's CEO, prefers a slightly more balanced approach. Palmer was quoted in Automotive News as saying that Tesla's Ludicrous Mode was "stupid." He added that he'd rather have an electric vehicle that could last "a few laps of a decent race course" instead of one that does its best imitation of a Dodge Challenger Hellcat. Palmer also took to his Twitter account to note, among other things, that the Aston's "insane mode comes as standard - no button required." Aston Martin said earlier this week that it planned to make a battery-electric variant of its Rapide Sedan. That model will have 800 horsepower as well as a 200-mile single-charge range. The car will also cost between $200,000 and $250,000, or about twice the cost of a top-of-the-line Model S. As for the Tesla, its Ludicrous mode was announced last month for the Model S and it will eventually be added to the Model X for those who are big on flipping SUVs. Tesla said that the feature cuts the sedan's 0-60 mpg time to a tidy 2.8 seconds, though the option does cost about $10,000. Which is probably about the price of an Aston Martin door handle. Featured Gallery 2015 Aston Martin Rapide S View 32 Photos News Source: Automotive News (subs req'd) Green Aston Martin Tesla Electric ludicrous mode

Aston Martin's upcoming hypercar officially named Valkyrie

For all of the awesome design and impressive promised performance of the upcoming hypercar from Aston Martin and Red Bull, it has had until now a terrible name. AM-RB 001 never really rolled off the tongue, nor did it evoke power and beauty like past Aston Martin names, such as Vanquish. But Aston has fixed that with the car's new name, Valkyrie. It's a solid name, one that comes from Norse mythology. Not only that, but it continues Aston's use of names starting with "V" (Vantage, Virage, Vulcan, et al). It's also way easier to say than the serial number that was the old name. We're looking forward to getting the full official specs, too. So far, we know it will have a V12, and the company is aiming for a one horsepower to one kilogram power-to-weight ratio, similar to that of the Koenigsegg One:1. We've also heard that Aston will sell just 175 cars, with each running about $3 million. Related Video: