1936 Jag Ss100 Recreation on 2040-cars

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Jaguar F-Pace, XE getting SVR treatment with supercharged V8

The folks at Jaguar Land Rover's new Special Vehicle Operations division have been fast at work creating new SVR performance models. And they're not about to stop now. Two new Jaguar models are currently in the works, according to Car and Driver, both packing the company's long-serving and celebrated supercharged V8. First up is the F-Pace crossover, which currently tops out with a 380-horsepower supercharged V6. Slotting the bigger engine in under the hood with more than 500 horsepower on tap would go a long way toward living up to the name that suggests both speed and a correlation to the F-Type sportscar. But that's not all JLR's new skunkworks department has in store. Car and Driver reports work is also under way on a more powerful XE to take on the likes of the BMW M3 and Mercedes-Benz AMG C63. The automaker is reportedly yet to give it the green light, hemming and hawing over its environmental image, but we hope hotter heads, in this case, prevail. Jaguar's V8 engine is one of its most enduring powertrains and is approaching double the output it originally offered. The 4.0 introduced in 1997 packed 375 horsepower. The latest version in the F-Type SVR (and expected soon to slot into the Range Rover Sport SVR) displaces 5.0 liters and produces 575 supercharged horsepower. With that much muscle, the F-Pace SVR would overpower the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, BMW X5 M, and Mercedes-AMG GLE63, while the XE SVR would outgun the M3, Cadillac ATS-V, Alfa Romeo Giulia QV, and just about anything else in its class. Related Video:

Off-roading in a 2020 Jaguar I-Pace HSE

The hiker’s eye roll was so extreme that it was nearly audible. “Nice trail car,” she said in mocking tones that left little doubt she felt otherwise. She was among a group that was walking single file downhill as I was creeping my all-electric 2020 Jaguar I-Pace around a tight uphill bend, proceeding slowly because a sheer cliff blocked my view through the apex on this one-lane section of the Maple Springs truck trail. Such a cautious approach is the norm up here because hikers share this fire road with mountain bikers, adventure motorcyclists and day-tripping off-roaders. But I was being extra careful because I was keenly aware that my electric all-wheel-drive machine emitted none of the engine noise an ascending geared-down truck would make. WhatÂ’s more, my test car was shod with the optional low-profile 255/40R22 high performance summer tires that put the lips of the pricey 22-inch “diamond turned” rims uncomfortably close to the rocks. Meeting a motorized vehicle wasn't the surprising bit – it was that theyÂ’d expected to see a 4Runner, Tacoma or Jeep Wrangler come nosing around the bend, not some high-falutin Jaguar styled by renowned designer Ian Callum. IÂ’d been up this U.S. Forest Service fire road dozens of times, most recently just two weeks ago in my own JK Jeep Wrangler. ItÂ’s easy if you have clearance and reasonable all-terrain tires, so I was prepared to take advantage of the numerous wide spots if the iPace protested. Besides, this was not really a test of the off-road prowess of the I-Pace itself. I was more interested in getting a feel for what electrified off-roading might be like. I started grinning less than 100 yards after the trailÂ’s narrow paved approach turned into dirt and began snaking steeply upward through dust and embedded rocks. In my own Jeep, which has a six-speed manual transmission and 4:10-to-1 axle gearing, I usually choose low-range at this point because the transmission gear spacing in high range is too wide and the engine bogs all too easily at these slow and constantly varying speeds. By comparison, the JaguarÂ’s power delivery was pure magic. For starters, there was no 4x4 mode to engage, no low range to select. The dual-motor all-wheel drive system is always on, and it constantly adjusts its torque split to suit conditions. Throttle pedal response is thoroughly accurate, and I never once had to goose the pedal because electric motors deliver their peak torque at zero rpm.

Jaguar Land Rover to cut $6.8 billion in costs

Jaguar Land Rover reduce costs by $6.8 billion and will push annual production volume to 1 million vehicles under a secret project called Leap 4.5, according to Reuters. The British automaker wants to achieve these ambitious goals by the end of the decade to compensate for the changing market in China and to counteract the price of meeting stricter emissions standards around the world. Leap 4.5 won't mean firing workers or cutting the automaker's $4.5 billion annual research budget. JLR will instead find savings by underpinning more models with modular platforms and by adjusting its supply chain. Future factories like the one in Brazil and the proposed plant in Slovakia also won't be affected by the new strategy. Globally, JLR continues to grow, and deliveries are up two percent through October 2015 to 390,965 vehicles. Business just last month was up 24 percent year-over-year to 41,553 units. However, the auto market's downturn in China has taken a bite out the automaker's success because volume dropped there 32 percent in the third quarter, Reuters reported. A global volume of 1 million vehicles will mean more than doubling 2014's 462,678 deliveries, but JLR has made significant investments to boost production recently. In addition to the future factories, it opened its first plant in China last year and an engine assembly site in the UK. The company also signed a deal with Magna Steyr in 2015 to build an upcoming model in Austria. Related Video: