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The Jaguar XE SV Project 8 looks like an XE, but is almost completely new

Jaguar's XE SV Project 8 is a thoroughly astonishing sports sedan. With a 592-horsepower V8, it's the most powerful Jaguar road car ever produced. And it's amazing to think that Jaguar's most powerful car is a version of its entry-level sedan. Or at least it looks that way. In reality, the majority of the body is completely unique to the Project 8. A Jaguar representative told us that only the roof and door skins are shared with the standard XE. The other 70 percent of the exterior is completely unique to the car. These changed body panels include wider fenders of course, and many of the pieces are made from carbon fiber rather than metal, but there are also some more unusual tweaks. For instance, the headlights actually had to be moved to a different position to make space for the Project 8's massive wheels and tires. The tires, for reference, are 265-mm wide at the front, and the rears are 305-mm wide. There were also some changes for style. The air vents at the front that consist of many small holes in the bumper are a tribute to Jaguars of the past. The hexagonal shape of the holes apes that of the vintage Jaguar logo, which featured the word Jaguar in an elongated hexagon. All in all, there's an impressive amount of new engineering that went into creating the Project 8. The results are, in a word, stunning. Related Video:

Recharge Wrap-up: Jaguar's aluminum recycling, lithium demand rises

Jaguar Land Rover has recycled over 50 metric tons of aluminum over the past year. As Jaguar celebrates a year of sales of the XE – which makes use of recycled aluminum – its closed loop recycling program has prevented some 500,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions. The XE is the first car in Jaguar's REALCAR (short for REcycled ALuminium CAR) program, and the company says it has recycled an amount equal to almost 200,000 XE body shells. "Its success so far marks a significant step towards our goal of having up to 75 percent recycled aluminium content in our vehicle body structures by 2020," says Group Engineering Director Nick Rogers. Check out the video above, and read more from Jaguar. Electric vehicle manufacturers are putting a strain on lithium supplies. Since the metal is used in the batteries of most electric vehicles, demand is expected to grow by 8.8 percent a year through 2019. While Tesla has deals with natural resource companies Pure Energy Minerals and Bacanora Minerals, they won't be able to keep up with the automaker's goal of 500,000 EVs by 2020. Tesla, BYD, and other EV manufacturers are going to be competing for these resources, and new lithium firms will enter the market to compete for automakers' business. Read more in the press release or the blog post from Market Research. Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has announced a new funding opportunity for building public EV charging infrastructure. DEEP is accepting applications from private entities for awards of up to $10,000 for installing a public dual-head charger or two single-head chargers, for up to 17 new charging stations. It prefers proposals for underserved areas with major traffic, such as downtowns. Connecticut has a goal of putting 3.3 million EVs on the road by 2025. Read more in the notice from DEEP, or visit DEEP's website. Car clubs are responsible for the removal of about 25,000 cars from London roads. According to a new survey, every club car removes 10 private cars, as club members sell their own vehicles. The survey of 4,000 Londoners also shows that carsharing members drive an average of 750 fewer miles every year after joining. London is currently home to 186,000 car club members using 2,800 cars, while the UK's 220,000 club members use over 3,800 club cars. Also, many car clubs offer access to electric vehicles, which helps to further reduce emissions.

542-HP Jaguar XJR to debut at New York Auto Show

Jaguar has just announced that a higher-than-ever performance version of its XJ flagship will be coming to this year's New York Auto Show next week. Joining the company's R lineup is this XJR, which will boast a stonking 542 horsepower from its supercharged 5.0-liter V8 engine.
Though details about the new XJ are pretty slim - you can read Jag's teaser of a press release - we are told that the car will ride on a "bespoke chassis" and that some aerodynamics work has been done, as well. The one sultry image we have of the car shows a set of trim-specific wheels, lower sills and unique badging on the front grille.
The new XJR would seem to slot above the current top-dog XJ, the XJ Supersport. With a bump up of 32 hp versus the Supersport, performance should get a meaningful shot in the arm, as well. As for pricing, we'll have to wait for the NYC show to be sure. But other Jaguar models show an increase of between 15- and 20-percent between the R model and the next one down; that would indicate a price tag in the $130k range for a standard wheelbase XJR is in order.