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SVR plans to tune electrified Jaguar-Land Rover models, but not the I-Pace

Jaguar-Land Rover's SVR division has only put its name on high-horsepower gasoline-burning cars, like the XE Project 8 built in strictly limited numbers. It's open to the idea of tuning electrified models, whether they're electric or hybrid, but it confirmed it's not currently planning on making a spicier evolution of the I-Pace. "We will be developing electrified versions of our cars, be that fully electrified or plug-in hybrids," affirmed Michael van der Sande, the division's managing director, in an interview with Auto Express. But although the electric I-Pace (pictured) raced in a one-make race series held on the sidelines of Formula E events for two seasons, and SVR could credibly claim to inject track DNA into a street car, it stressed the I-Pace doesn't appear in its product plans for reasons that remain a little bit murky. Jaguar announced the end of the eTrophy series in May 2020, which might explain why it's reluctant to exploit racing's marketing power. "There are other various things we are working on which we can't talk about, but we're very interested in electrification. That's why we got involved in eTrophy," van der Sande clarified. "The technology transfer, the learning applies to that car and other cars but we're not planning an SVR I-Pace at the moment." His comments confirm we'll need to be patient to see what SVR's take on an electric or hybrid car looks like. One of the first electrified models to receive the go-fast treatment might be the next-generation XJ tentatively scheduled to make its debut before the end of 2020. It will be exclusively electric, though it won't look as radical as the I-Pace, so Jaguar will need to find a way to replace the hot-rodded XJR 575 model it positioned at the top of the last-generation model's line-up. It's not too far-fetched to speculate the next Range Rover also due out in the coming months will receive some degree of electrification, and it could spawn an SVR-tuned model, too. Related Video:    

Jaguar XFR-S is motor-porn on a mountain road

The 2014 Jaguar XFR-S might have only been good enough to take the runner-up spot in our Editor's Choice top five debuts at the LA Auto Show, but we'd be hard-pressed to find a car with a more exhilarating exhaust note. As proof of this, Jaguar released a video showing the XFR-S tearing up a windy, European mountain road in close to a minute of hardcore driving footage.
The big blue cat has the same great exhaust note of the XKR-S, and the driver puts all of the car's 550 horsepower to work demonstrating the handling - and drifting - abilities of the new XFR-S. If there's any disappointment to be had, it's the fact that you have to jump to the 30-second mark of the video for any of the action to start.
Scroll down to watch the video, and be sure your speakers are turned all the way up.

Watch a Jaguar F-Type R drag a parachute at 186 mph

With carbon-ceramic brakes on offer, the Jaguar F-Type R Coupe can shed off speed even faster than it can rack it up. Even the standard steel rotors do a pretty good job of it. But what would happen if you deployed a parachute out the back of the Jag at 186 miles per hour, like you might with a drag racer? That's what the British automaker has found out in this latest video. And just why would they do such a thing, you ask? Because Bloodhound, that's why. Jaguar is providing technical support to the Bloodhound SSC land speed record attempt, and one of the roles into which the F-Type has been pressed is to check the parachute that will (along with the air brakes and rotors) form an integral part of the jet- and rocket-powered vehicle's run. To make sure the chute would do its job, the team put Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green behind the wheel of the specially equipped F-Type at the RAF air base in Bentwaters, Suffolk, UK, had him speed down the runway up to the car's top speed and deploy the chute. Fortunately, as you can see from the minute-long clip, everything seemed to have gone according to plan – though we're not sure about the logic behind the assertion that if "it worked at 180, it will definitely work at a thousand miles an hour." Related Video: Jaguar F-TYPE Performs Mission Critical Parachute Deployment Test for British World Land Speed Record Challenger Bloodhound SSC 12 June 2015 - World land speed record holder Andy Green drives an F-TYPE R Coupe at top speed of 186mph to test Bloodhound SSC's parachute deployment system - The test continues Jaguar's technical partnership in the world land speed record attempt, following a high-speed communications test run in South Africa in 2014 - Jaguar will be at the heart of Bloodhound SSC providing its 5.0-litre 550PS supercharged V8 engine to power the rocket's oxidiser pump Today, Jaguar and the world land speed record holder RAF Wing Commander Andy Green performed vital high-speed parachute tests as part of the company's on-going technical support for this unique engineering adventure: creating a car that can cover a mile in just 3.6 seconds. The jet and rocket powered car, which aims to surpass the current record of 763.035mph before targeting 1000mph, has multiple braking systems including air-brakes ('doors' mounted on the side of the car which open to increase aerodynamic drag) and disc brakes (used when slowing down from 200mph).