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Jaguar Project 7 concept is an F-Type in a D-Type mold [w/video]

In addition to the XJR, XFR-S and XKR-S GT models Jaguar is bringing to the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend, the manufacturer announced that the F-Type-based, D-Type-inspired Project 7 design study will make its "dynamic" debut at the festival, with driving duties assigned to Mike Cross, Jaguar's chief engineer of vehicle integrity. Here's the cool part: With Jaguar's Director of Design, Ian Callum, leading the team responsible for Project 7, it went from the drawing board to track testing in only four months, Jaguar states, with a claimed 0-60 time of 4.1 seconds and top speed of 186 miles per hour.
Project 7, which was named in honor of Jaguar's seven wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be making runs up the hill at Goodwood over all three days of the festival, which starts at the Goodwood House in West Sussex, England, this Friday.
Far from a fragile concept car, Jaguar says, the single-seat Project 7 is a fully functional sports car. It uses the all-aluminum chassis and body of the F-Type, retains that car's 550-horsepower, supercharged 5.0-liter V8 and eight-speed automatic transmission but features lots of bespoke carbon fiber aerodynamic bits, some of which were inspired by the Le Mans-winning D-Type of the 1950s. The most obvious nod to that classic is the rear fairing with integrated rollover hoop - the F-Type's convertible top is gone. The windshield was also lowered, giving the roadster a more rakish silhouette as it sits on 20-inch forged-alloy wheels with carbon fiber inserts.

Jaguar C-X17 rides high into Frankfurt

After enviously watching its competitors rake in piles of crossover-shaped dollars for years, Jaguar is poised to get into the game with a production model based on this C-X17 concept. While the British brand hasn't officially confirmed it will sell a utility vehicle - indeed, brand fans and industry watchers have wondered whether the Leaping Cat even need to get into the game considering its corporate cousins at Land Rover - we would be dumbfounded if it didn't happen in short order.
We've always been concerned that Jaguar's styling language wouldn't translate well to a high-riding shape, but here at its Frankfurt Motor Show debut, the C-X17 comes off as quite handsome (if predictable) in the metal. The same couldn't always be said of Jag's styling DNA, but newer models beginning with the XF and the XJ have introduced design elements like a larger, more vertical grille that suit the C-X17's form factor exceedingly well. Even the rear end successfully borrows its taillamp design from the glorious new F-Type Roadster.
Underneath the concept's two-box shape is a new aluminum unibody that Jag says it is poised to employ on its next-generation models, including the long-expected midsize sedan coming to North America in 2016. Jaguar has long been a leader in aluminum chassis development even as it has struggled to take weight out of some of its vehicles (the F-Type, for instance, isn't exactly lightweight). Thus far, Jaguar isn't talking powertrains other than to say it will employ a new generation of gas and diesel engines.

Jaguar spotted testing hardcore F-Type SVR

Jaguar keeps churning out more and more potent versions of the F-Type. And if these latest spy shots are anything to go by, it's got an even more powerful version in the works. Spotted undergoing testing near the Nurburgring is what appears to be a more hardcore variant of Coventry's shapely sports car. Beneath the usual swirly camouflage we can make out a reshaped front end with a deeper splitter and bigger air vents, along with a giant rear wing affixed to the tail atop an enlarged diffuser and quad exhaust tips. The wheels look like they're mounted to a lowered suspension and pack bigger carbon-ceramic brakes as well. Following the Range Rover Sport SVR, Jaguar is likely to label the new F-Type performance flagship as an SVR as well. Jaguar spokesman Richard Agnew confirmed to Autoblog that the R-S badge that previously adorned the most potent Jags is being phased out. That leaves the SVR badge as the most likely to appear on the back of this beast once it reaches production, although that much has yet to be confirmed: "As we stated when Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations was formed," says Agnew, "it is our intention to create a high-performance Jaguar SVR and we are currently evaluating what product to launch first." Nameplates aside, we're more interested in what this amped-up F-Type is packing underneath. We'll likely be looking at an even further enhanced version of the company's signature 5.0-liter supercharged V8 pumping out a good 600 horsepower, which would eclipse both the 550 hp in the F-Type R and the 575 in the Project 7 speedster – potentially driving all four wheels. We'll just have to sit tight to find out, but in the meantime you can scope out the spy shots in the gallery above for a closer look at what Jaguar's Special Vehicle Operations division has got in the cooker. Related Video: