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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 envisions future without V8 engines

With tighter emissions and fuel economy regulations looming, Jaguar may have to do more than make a small, fuel-efficient hatchback to lower its model range's consumption figures - it also might give up its venerable V8 power, Drive reports. But not anytime soon, says Steven de Ploey, Jaguar's product and marketing director, who recognizes that the V8 can be replaced only by something that offers the same, or better, performance. But he has a word of caution: "We are not wedded to V8s."
In the meantime, de Ploey says there are other ways to reduce emissions. One of the first steps Jaguar could take is to shift away from the use of superchargers, which aren't as good as turbochargers at maintaining efficiency and making power. But he adds that supercharging still is "at the heart of Jaguar's performance proposition," and that the company has addressed the current downsizing trend by "replacing our naturally aspirated V8 with a 3.0-liter supercharged V6."
Consider one of de Ploey's comments on the cancelled C-X75 supercar (pictured) for some clue about Jaguar's future: "Some of the stuff we have already exploited to the extreme in the C-X75 is the kind of thinking for us and is an essential test bed to see how we could evolve from today to something that is sustainable in the future."

2019 Jaguar I-Pace pricing announced, starting at $70,495

The Jaguar I-Pace electric vehicle arrives in the United States later this year with a starting price of $70,495, including destination, putting it head-to-head with luxury EV rivals like the Tesla Model S sedan and Model X crossover. Jaguar's fully-electric crossover is powered by two electric motors, one at the front and another at the rear, with the battery pack nestled in an underfloor, positioned in-between the front and rear axles. This powertrain not only provides the all-wheel-drive I-Pace with a low center of gravity and perfect 50:50 weight distribution, it delivers a total of 394 horsepower and 512 pound-feet of torque. According to Jaguar's stopwatch, the I-Pace accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in only 4.5 seconds and has a top speed of 124 mph. That lives up to the performance level a customer expects from Jaguar – not to mention being a match for the straight-line speed of Tesla's offerings at this price range. It should be noted, however, that despite aligning on price and performance with models S and X, the I-Pace is a bit closer in size to the Model 3. As we've already noted, the Jaguar's 90-kWh lithium-ion battery pack provides a useful range of up to 240 miles between charges. When you're running low on juice, a 100-hW DC fast charger will provide 80 percent of range in only 40 minutes. That's still a considerable amount of time compared to filling up with gasoline, though it's much better than the hours-long wait EVs usually required only a few years ago. Plugging in at home does require more patience, however. Using a 230-volt, 32-amp Level 2 home-charger requires just over 10 hours to recharge your I-Pace. Three trim levels are offered: S, SE, and HSE. There will also be a fully-loaded, one-year-only "First Edition" based on the HSE trim level, which carries a price of $86,895. In fact, it's very easy to start adding options – and a heftier tab – onto the base price of the I-Pace. Available safety features on the entry-level model include blind-spot assist, adaptive cruise control with steering assist, high-speed emergency braking, and a 360-degree surround-view camera. The First Edition model is pretty much the upper limit of I-Pace pricing, and comes fitted with all those safety features, along with a full leather interior, 20-inch alloy wheels, a 15-speaker Meridian surround sound stereo, and premium LED headlights. It's worth noting that Jaguar includes a substantial 8-year/100,000-mile battery warranty with each I-Pace.