1971 Jaguar E-type Near Factory Condition on 2040-cars

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Jaguar's EV plans now include a large, lavish sedan that won't be called XJ

Autocar reports Jaguar has resuscitated plans for an electric XJ after canceling the previous attempt, albeit under a different name. There are supposedly two Jaguar-branded EVs arriving in 2025. We know one will be a four-door GT the automaker teased in April of this year. The scant intel we received on it claimed more power than any previous retail Jaguar, besting the 590-horsepower XE SV Project 8, and a starting price around GBP100,000 (around $125,000). We'll guess the output claim represents a top-shelf trim, the starting price represents an entry-trim. The most expensive hardtop the company sells in the U.K. now is the F-Type R 75, asking GBP103,075. A Porsche Taycan, the obvious comparison to a sporty, four-door, six-figure, battery-electric GT, starts at GBP79,200 and runs to GBP148,300 for the Taycan Turbo S. Autocar said company sources outed the Jag as a lavish electric sedan that is effectively, in the magazine's words, a "de-facto XJ replacement but larger and much more luxurious." The Coventry automaker's been dealing with even more turmoil than usual in the past several years, so it's difficult to pin down how many times plans have changed and when. It's thought the original plan had the GT launching ahead of two SUVs. The larger of the two SUVs would be flagship of a three-model electric lineup, specced and priced to challenge the Bentley Bentayga, the English maker joining a cadre of mass-market luxury brands going superluxe and repeatedly naming Bentley as the target. In July of last year, Autocar reported the new plan was "a trio of... electric crossovers," a near-production concept not due until the end of 2024. Now, Autocar's sources maintain the model count remains at three, all of which will sit on the dedicated, long-wheelbase Jaguar Electric Architecture (JEA). If this plan holds, there will be that four-door GT against the Taycan, the SUV against the Bentley, and the swanky sedan as something like a BMW i7 competitor. It is expected to be about the length of the 219-inch Bentley Mulsanne, offer all-wheel drive, all-wheel steering, a range spread of about 385 to 475 miles on the European cycle, and the ability to recharge its battery from 10% to 80% in 13 minutes. The report also said the output floor would be at around 450 hp.

Jaguar Land Rover building new R&D center for hybrids, EVs, autonomous cars

The success of Jaguar Land Rover in recent years has largely been down to a resurgent product lineup, but a recent move into the research and development will see the British-based, Indian-owned brands take the fight to its German rivals more aggressively than ever before.
JLR is investing 50 million pounds ($80,345,000, as of this writing) in a joint R&D center in central England. The move will more than triple its staff dedicated to research, from 150 to 500, with Wolfgang Epple, JLR's Director of Research and Technology telling Automotive News Europe, "In order to play among the big animals in automotive and to be anchored in the mind of customers you have to have offered something unique, to be first in market. We want to be one of the key premier automotive manufacturers."
Jaguar Land Rover's 50-million-pound contribution represents more than half of the 94-million-pound tab, on the so-called National Automotive Innovation Campus. Based at Warwick University, Tata's European Technical Center, Warwick Manufacturing Group and the Higher Education Funding Council, an agency of the British government, are all chipping in for the facility.

2019 Jaguar F-Pace SVR First Drive Review | Magnificent beast

ST. TROPEZ, France — Summarizing a new car in just two words is a wicked challenge, but here goes: Magnificent beast. That's the nickname Jaguar's engineering team gave the 2019 F-Pace SVR, and ... spoiler alert ... it's actually a damn fine descriptor for the 550-horsepower sport ute. The hot-rod SUV genre has been endlessly expanding, pioneered by the likes of the Porsche Cayenne. Recent contenders like the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio and Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 keep the competition on its toes by busting Nurburgring Nordschleife lap records that shamed supercars from just a few years ago. The Jaguar F-Pace SVR arrives a tad late to the high-speed party. Previously available with as much as 380 horsepower from a supercharged V6, the new SVR plays ball packing a 5.0-liter V8 beneath its vented hood. The supercharged mill punches 550 hp and 502 lb-ft through an eight-speed ZF automatic. Power is routed to all four wheels, naturally, but the SVR is also the first F-Pace to get torque vectoring thanks to an electronically controlled rear differential. Also aiding the F-Pace through the corners are stiffer springs, reprogrammed adaptive Bilstein dampers, 12-inch forged aluminum wheels and a brake-based torque vectoring system. Additional go-fast goodies include lift-reducing aero, better engine ventilation, and larger four-piston front and two-piston rear ventilated brakes housed in larger 21-inch wheels. The F-Pace SVR's cabin offers more sporty austerity than before. Slimmer, supportive 10-way adjustable seats echo the SUV's more focused road manners, as do aggressive color schemes, contrast stitching, and a suede headliner. Small touches also signal the sharper edges, including an F-Type-derived shifter in place of the mediocre rotary gear selector. It doesn't inherit Jaguar's latest dual-screen infotainment system, updated steering wheel, or second-gen heads up display, as does the recently updated XE sedan. The F-Pace SVR shares a similar tune to the 575-hp F-Type SVR, but the SUV's V8 fires up with a milder bark. A new exhaust valve adjusts its butterfly valves gradually, avoiding the "light switch" transition from quiet to loud. And speaking of loud, while the blarty exhaust note isn't as in-your-face as some of Jaguar's more vocal models, U.S. versions might be slightly raspier since the European model I was driving was equipped with a gasoline particulate filter that has a slight muffling effect.