1972 Jaguar Xke Roadster on 2040-cars

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How and why Jaguar designed an electric SUV

Adrian Belew, front man of famed progressive rock band King Crimson and collaborator with Bowie, Zappa, and the Talking Heads, released a prescient song in 1982, but we didn't know exactly how prophetic it was until this week. The song was titled Big Electric Cat, and its lyrics seemed to predict nearly 35 years ago the unveiling of Jaguar's first all-electric vehicle, a production-ready crossover concept with the not-so-ingenious name, I-Pace. She arrives like a limo/Smooth and moving/On the prowl through the crowd/To the beat of the city/She glows in the dark/Wherever she parks/Concrete crumbles and the night rumbles. At first glimpse of the I-Pace, you may not have precisely the same feeling of disintegration as the roadbed Belew mentions, but there is no denying that the new Jag is important for the brand. Flush with investment from its corporate overlords at Tata, the company is on its most robust product offensive ever, rounding out its lineup to become a full-range manufacturer, investing in autonomous driving and projective head-up technologies, nearly doubling global sales, and now going electric. "This is probably the most important car since the E-Type, I really mean that," says Jaguar director of design Ian Callum. "And when we get this car out into production and it gains recognition and popularity, I think history will show it's a significant step for the brand. Not only because we're embracing the future, quite openly and honestly, but because we're going to beat the rest of them. Tesla is there already, but none of the rest." As a challenger brand – one not in the top of mind consideration set like rivals at Mercedes, Audi, or Lexus – Jaguars are made or broken on this kind of differentiation. The I-Pace is certainly distinctive, and looks like nothing else on the road. Like many contemporary Jaguars, its rear three-quarter view is its most compelling, with the slender half-round taillights inspired by the legendary E-Type that were first revived on the F-Type and have since become a signature. But here, the rear end is shaved off and in an angular concavity that seems an effort to take as much mass as possible out of the back, and one that echoes elsewhere on the vehicle: in the scalloped sides, in the continuous path of glass from the base of the front windshield to (almost) the base of the rear liftgate. But especially in the foreshortened and deep-nostriled hood.

249 reasons you want to go to Goodwood Revival

At its most basic, Goodwood Revival is a long weekend worth of car races featuring cars made before 1970. There are lots of those, though, including some pretty great ones all over the world. But nothing is like Goodwood Revival because it's so much more than "just" vintage car racing.  First, you have to look the part. Attendees are strongly encouraged to dress in period clothing from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, with a strict dress code enforced should you want to enter the paddock. The goal is to create a more authentic atmosphere to match the cars and the meticulously restored and recreated paddocks, grandstands and other facilities of the reborn Goodwood circuit. Now, the dress code was relaxed this year since the Saturday was literally the hottest Sept. 9 on record in that part of England, and the organizers didn't want people dropping dead because they needed to wear an ascot. Some people definitely took the "relaxed" bit too far, but there was still plenty of atmosphere maintained. It really does make a big difference, as those "relaxed" individuals were often akin to seeing a Starbucks cup in a scene from "Game of Thrones."  You can see what I came up with below along with former Autoblog editor Reese Counts and various other Goodwood attendees. Second, there's the parking lot. But I'll let this entire separate post detail that. Third, there's the enormous carnival-like area featuring vintage-looking rides and various boutiques. Both of those are on the outside portion of the track, and honestly, you could easily just spend your entire day in the parking lot and carnival/shopping area without even crossing over into the circuit area. There you'll find more shops, food and drink opportunities, plus obviously, race car paddocks and the track itself.  Fourth, there are airplanes! I heard there are fewer than in the past, but they're there and they're cool. The Goodwood circuit started out life as the perimeter road around the World War II airfield RAF Westhampnett.  Fifth, with all of the above, Goodwood Revival really is fun for the whole family. It isn't just a bunch of old guys sitting around in lawn chairs. There are plenty of women and adorably dressed children, including babies in vintage prams. It's also not an event that's exclusively for the uber rich, even if they are certainly in full force given who has the sort of money needed to go vintage racing.

Jaguar gives World Car jurors private viewing of J-Pace, next XJ

The brace of accolades bestowed on the Jaguar I-Pace include three awards given by the 86 jurors on the World Car of the Year panel. They anointed the I-Pace World Car of the Year, World Green Car of the Year, and World Car Design of the Year. Jaguar hosted a get-together for its new WCOTY friends, inviting jurors to the carmaker's Coventry design studios to check out future products. The coming all-electric XJ and flagship J-Pace were the stars of the gathering, this being the first time Jaguar's publicly got behind the range-topping crossover. Ex-head designer Ian Callum hinted about the J-Pace in April, but all he would say is, "We're looking at it." With Jaguar confident enough to show the vehicle to very important outsiders, the J-Pace could be on track for its rumored 2021 launch. Jaguar dropped hints of other new cars, too. The carmaker "gave a firm nod to" two new crossovers that will be "considerably less expensive" than current crossovers in the lineup, to be called A-Pace and B-Pace. We've never heard of these, but based on the brand's naming structure, the A-Pace would slot in at entry-level, the B-Pace just above. It's said that one or both of these will be sized to compete in the World Urban Car Awards sometime in the 2020s. That means subcompact dimensions along the lines of this year's World Urban Car winner the Suzuki Jimny, or the top-three finisher Kia Soul. The jurors also got a look at the imminent replacements for the F-Type and XE. The second-generation F-Type is said to wear an evolutionary design; the big changes will take place under the hood. A V8 could remain in the top tier, but one sourced from BMW instead of Jaguar's own supercharged 5.0-liter V8. The current V6 is expected to give way for an Ingenium inline-six developed in-house. And expect one or both of them to come with hybrid assistance, as Jaguar's made a point of saying that all of its offerings will get "electrified options" in the 2020s. What did Jaguar get out of the open-house? Insider information, apparently: "150 senior Jaguar employees" put questions to the WCOTY jurors about how the panel road-tests cars. Perhaps the WCOTY award will become the new Nurburgring for the next decade. As a final flourish to everyone who'd get the news, Jaguar CEO Ralph Speth informed the audience that his charge and Land Rover "are definitely not for sale to Peugeot-Citroen, Fiat-Chrysler, Hyundai-Kia or any other motor manufacturing companies." So there.