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Watch Felipe Massa put the Jaguar C-X75 through its paces

Automakers who run their own racing teams enjoy the benefit of having top-flight professional racing drivers on call to help out with development work. Jaguar, unfortunately, has no such racing team, having sold its F1 operation to Red Bull back in 2004. So when it came time to put the C-X75 through its paces in this latest video, it turned to Felipe Massa. Why Massa, you ask? For one thing, having driven for so long for Ferrari, the Brazilian driver is used to applying his F1 skills in testing a supercar designed for the road. But since switching to Williams, he hasn't been called upon in that capacity. For another, it was Williams Advanced Engineering as much as Jaguar itself that spearheaded development of the C-X75. So Massa was the natural choice. The C-X75, for those who don't recall, represented Jaguar's plan to build a hybrid hypercar of its own. Having debuted way back in 2010 at the Paris Motor Show, the concept followed hot on the heels of the Porsche 918 concept unveiled earlier that year in Geneva – a predated by far the emergence of the McLaren P1 and LaFerrari. The original design called for a revolutionary powertrain combining a pair of micro-turbines and four individual electric motors in the wheels. When that proved unfeasible, Jaguar switched to a more conventional setup with a turbocharged hybrid powertrain. Unfortunately plans to put even that version into production were shelved. But the concept was revived for the filming of the latest James Bond movie Spectre. Check out the C-X75 being put through its paces by the eleven-time grand prix winner in the video above. Related Video:

Jaguar to create Panthera electric vehicle platform in-house

Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bollore isn't trying to make Jaguar's turnaround, called "Reimagine," easy nor inexpensive. What it appears he's most interested in doing is making sure the turnaround creates a range of Jaguar electric vehicles that exude the historic Jaguar-ness the brand still gets credit for but hasn't been known for in a while. He had told Autocar last year that future products must be "really modern luxury cars that are the copy of nothing in style or design, the top of technology and refinement, but not looking backwards." Since then, the brand had cast around for an existing electric platform created by another automaker or a supplier that it could adopt for Jaguar use, but nothing met the standard. Instead, Autocar now reports the English carmaker will create its own EV platform in-house. Company CFO Adrian Mardell said in an investor call the platform is called "Panthera," which is the scientific name for the genus of large cats that include jaguars, leopards, lions, and tigers. Bollore said, "Concerning the new Jaguar, we're making unique proportion a priority. That's the reason why at the moment we do it by ourselves." Some have fastened on the phrase "at the moment" to suggest the Panthera plan could be temporary. And while that's possible — there have been a lot of temporary plans all over the industry for the past few years — Jaguar is expected to release the first EV in its new lineup in 2025, so the plan couldn't be temporary for long. Slightly under four years from now would be just enough time to create a new mechanical architecture on a new technical foundation to serve a new vehicle. Emphasis on "just." The Panthera platform makes sense, if Jaguar can pull it off. Bollore wants the coming Jaguars to be considered alongside Bentley and Aston Martin, so he'll need those unique proportions along with brilliant design to draw buyers that haven't considered the brand in ages, if ever. The makeup of the revamped model line remains murky. On the sedan side, it's thought the XE and XF might become a single midsize four-door. The return of a true flagship sedan isn't clear, but it seems a good possibility considering the intended competition and as a differentiator with sister brand Land Rover. As to crossovers, the E-Pace and F-Pace might make the transition to battery power, and a new J-Pace flagship crossover looking unlikely in order to, again, maintain space from Land Rover.

Jaguar to finish building six remaining Lightweight E-Types

Back in February of 1963, Jaguar set about making a small run of lightweight E-Types. It recrafted the bodywork out of aluminum, shoehorned in a 3.8-liter straight-six with an aluminum block, stripped out the interior, removed the chrome trim and fitted lighter-weight side windows. The result was a 250-pound reduction in curb weight and a commensurate increase in performance, especially evident on the race track. The company originally set about building 18 examples, but only managed 12. The remaining six were allocated chassis numbers, but were never built. That is, until now.
Fifty years since the last of the original 12 lightweight E-Types were completed, Jaguar has announced that it is preparing to resume production and complete the final six examples. The company has assigned its top craftsmen to the job, who will build the half-dozen continuation Lightweights to the same exact specifications as the original dozen. Former sister-company and perennial arch-rival Aston Martin undertook a similar task (or at least authorized Zagato to do so) when it sanctioned four continuation examples of the original DB4 GT Zagato based on original chassis numbers in 1988, and another two based on original body shells and stock DB4 chassis in 1992.
Jaguar has not yet announced pricing and availability for the continuation Lightweights, but the first old-is-new example is set to debut this summer, whereupon Coventry will release further details. You can bet, though, that each one will be snapped up rather quick at just about any price the British automaker cares to put on them.