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Jaguar E-Type 60 Collection celebrates 1961 launch and The Decade of the Cat

The night before the 1961 Geneva Motor Show, Jaguar PR man Bob Berry drove "flat out" from the English automaker's home base in Coventry to the city on the lake. Berry needed to be at the Parc des Eaux Vives in time to debut the car he was driving, a Jaguar E-Type coupe in Opalescent Gunmetal Grey with the number plate 9600 HP. Legend says he arrived at the Parc only minutes ahead of the appointed time for test drives. That morning hinted, and the decade of the 1960s would prove, that Berry also arrived driving a legend. The invited guests did so much clucking over the hardtop that Jaguar boss Sir William Lyons told famed company engineer Norman Dewis to "drop everything" and dispatch another cat to Geneva that very night. Dewis drove the roughly 700 miles in 11 hours to get a British Racing Green E-Type roadster with the number plate 77 RW to the show the following morning. To celebrate those two totems to Englishness and success, Jaguar Classic will build the E-Type 60 Collection — 12 cars sold only as six sets of two, with one coupe and one roadster in each set. All cars will be powered by rebuilt 3.8-liter straight-sixes with 265 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. That motor took the show cars from zero to 60 miles per hour in 6.9 seconds, on to a top speed of 150 mph. The coupes will be painted Flat Out Grey, the roadsters in Drop Everything Green, unique colors reserved for the collection. The dozen cars will also get special design details penned by Jaguar design director Julian Thompson. Jaguar Classic already has the 12 E-Type Series 1 donor cars in its possession, and plans to begin restorations in March 2021. Jaguar hasn't mentioned pricing, and likely won't unless you intend to purchase. Seeing as a Jaguar Classic E-Type Reborn was priced at $355,000 three years ago, multiply that by two and add a touch for inflation and exclusivity for an approximate base price. If you're still interested, the E-Type 60 Collection is available to order now, so contact Jaguar Classic. 

Jaguar Land Rover opens winter testing facility in Minnesota

As it begins the rollout of the all-wheel-drive Jaguar XJ and XF models, Jaguar Land Rover has just announced that it has opened a new facility in northern Minnesota for winter testing. Located in International Falls, MN (on the US and Canadian border), the British automaker says it is one of the coldest locations in the Continental US. Jaguar's new Instinctive All Wheel Drive system was developed primarily to help sell more cars in the northern US, so it only makes sense to open a testing area in the US as well.
With temperatures that can drop to minus 55 degrees Fahrenheit, International Falls was chosen to mimic some of the worst weather a Jaguar or Land Rover will ever see. The grounds house testing chambers, various road surfaces and even a frozen lake. This new facility complements the hot-weather testing grounds in Phoenix, AZ.
The official press release is posted below.

Jaguar Land Rover reveals EV concepts, details green strategy

While it offers diesel models and even a couple hybrids, Jaguar Land Rover isn't quite as fleshed out on alternative powertrains as its luxurious German rivals. That should change pretty soon. JLR revealed three concepts at the CENEX Low Carbon Vehicle event in Millbrook, England, today. The Concept_e "research demonstrators" all use a new electric drive module, an EV system that the Indian-owned, British-based outfit claims will double the power and torque of today' electric motors. JLR says these modular EDMs can be paired with any of the company's engines or transmissions to create either a mild hybrid, a plug-in hybrid, or a pure EV. So yeah, this is kind of a big deal. Arguably the most exciting offering is a one-of-a-kind research vehicle. Riding on JLR's aluminium aluminum architecture, it ties together two electric motors – an 85-kW unit with a single-speed trans on the front axle and a 145-kW rear motor that's been mated to a two-speed transmission – with a 70-kWh li-ion battery that's mounted in the underbody of the car. There's also the Concept_e MHEV. This is a Range Rover Evoque that's been fitted with a mild hybrid system. Just a refresher, but a mild hybrid is very different than what's found in either a Chevrolet Volt or Toyota Prius, as it uses the electric motor and battery pack to simply assist the internal combustion engine, rather than for an electric driving mode. Reflecting that use, this particular Evoque uses a 15-kilowatt electric motor and a 48-volt, lithium-ion battery pack alongside a 90-metric-horsepower diesel-powered prototype. Finally, we have a Range Rover Sport-based plug-in hybrid. This brute uses a 300-metric-horsepower prototype gas engine and an eight-speed automatic alongside a 150-kilowatt electric motor. Energy is stored in a trunk-mounted, 320-volt, li-ion battery back. Partially funded by the British government, the EDMs are the result of a 16.3-million-pound ($25-million) research-and-development program. They're built in house by JLR, but were developed alongside 12 partners. While these concepts are exciting, don't get your hopes up to see a plug-in Jaguar XF or an all-electric Discovery Sport in your local dealer any time soon. "This is a long-term Jaguar Land Rover research project exploring all aspects of future hybrid and battery electric vehicle technology," JLR research and design boss Dr. Wolfgang Epple said in the attached statement.