1959 Jaguar Xk S on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2018 Jaguar I-Pace hits the Nurburgring in all its electric glory

Jaguar is continuing development work on the I-Pace, its first all-electric model set to arrive in 2018. Today we're getting fresh spy shots of the svelte crossover being unloaded for testing at the Nurburgring, and the I-Pace looks almost identical to the concept model and a prototype we spied earlier this year. It's expected to debut next fall at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Despite wearing Slimer-green camouflage, the I-Pace's curves and creases are evident. It's fronted by a prominent grille that's mainly for looks, angled headlights, and short overhangs. Obviously, Jag wants you to know it's working on an electric car, as the test mule wears the hashtag #jaguarelectrifies on the sides and #ipace on the hood. Subtle. Jaguar hasn't confirmed US specs, but based on the concept car the I-Pace generates 400 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels from a 90-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack. The crossover can hit 60 miles per hour in 4 seconds and has an expected range of 220 miles. Jaguar is investing in electric technology, though it's also looking to diesels and smaller-displacement four-cylinder engines as part of its future powertrain strategy. On Monday, the company confirmed plans for a 296-hp turbo four-cylinder that will be offered in the 2018 XE, XF, and F-Pace, as the well-received Ingenium engine family expands. In Jaguar parlance, the "Paces" are crossovers: The F-Pace is a midsize utility vehicle. The E-Pace is a compact crossover, and the I-Pace is an electric crossover. Try to keep up. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2018 Jaguar I-Pace View 10 Photos Green Spy Photos Jaguar Crossover jaguar i-pace

The UK votes for Brexit and it will impact automakers

It's the first morning after the United Kingdom voted for what's become known as Brexit – that is, to leave the European Union and its tariff-free internal market. Now begins a two-year process in which the UK will have to negotiate with the rest of the EU trading bloc, which is its largest export market, about many things. One of them may be tariffs, and that could severely impact any automaker that builds cars in the UK. This doesn't just mean companies that you think of as British, like Mini and Jaguar. Both of those automakers are owned by foreign companies, incidentally. Mini and Rolls-Royce are owned by BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover by Tata Motors of India, and Bentley by the VW Group. Many other automakers produce cars in the UK for sale within that country and also export to the EU. Tariffs could damage the profits of each of these companies, and perhaps cause them to shift manufacturing out of the UK, significantly damaging the country's resurgent manufacturing industry. Autonews Europe dug up some interesting numbers on that last point. Nissan, the country's second-largest auto producer, builds 475k or so cars in the UK but the vast majority are sent abroad. Toyota built 190k cars last year in Britain, of which 75 percent went to the EU and just 10 percent were sold in the country. Investors are skittish at the news. The value of the pound sterling has plummeted by 8 percent as of this writing, at one point yesterday reaching levels not seen since 1985. Shares at Tata Motors, which counts Jaguar and Land Rover as bright jewels in its portfolio, were off by nearly 12 percent according to Autonews Europe. So what happens next? No one's terribly sure, although the feeling seems to be that the jilted EU will impost tariffs of up to 10 percent on UK exports. It's likely that the UK will reciprocate, and thus it'll be more expensive to buy a European-made car in the UK. Both situations will likely negatively affect the country, as both production of new cars and sales to UK consumers will both fall. Evercore Automotive Research figures the combined damage will be roughly $9b in lost profits to automakers, and an as-of-yet unquantified impact on auto production jobs. Perhaps the EU's leaders in Brussels will be in a better mood in two years, and the process won't devolve into a trade war. In the immediate wake of the Brexit vote, though, the mood is grim, the EU leadership is angry, and investors are spooked.

Never-was Jaguar C-X75 hybrid supercar driven by Autocar

There's lucky, and then there's "I got to drive the Jaguar C-X75." The crew from Autocar is among the handful of souls who can honestly make the latter statement. Jaguar invited the publication down for a little time in both the passenger and driver seats around the automaker's proving grounds. While there's no end to the jealousy oozing from our pores, the good news is that there were a few cameras on hand to capture the experience. As you may recollect, the C-X75 Concept was a unique hybrid supercar concept built to duke it out with the likes of the Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 and the McLaren P1. The British automaker put it on track for production, but unfortunately stopped the project about six months ago.
With a twincharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine capable of revving to 10,000 rpm, the C-X75 concept yields 502 horsepower and gets partnered with four electric motors - one at each wheels. A 19kWh lithium-ion battery pack serves up 300kW of power, and combined, the motors and battery are capable of yielding an additional 194 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. Combined, the driveline is good for more than 850 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque. Said another way, the C-X75 will do the 0-60 miles per hour dance in under three seconds.
And Autocar got to drive it. You can watch the video for yourself by scrolling below.