2018 Jaguar F-pace S on 2040-cars

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Watch new Jaguar XF perform a literal high-wire act

Coming out with a new luxury sedan can be a truly daunting prospect. Make it too edgy and you'll risk disenfranchising what can often be a rather conservative customer base. Make it too conservative and you may fail to attract enough new customers or generate enough interest to make the endeavor worthwhile. Whether Jaguar succeeded in walking that thin line with the new XF is a matter of personal taste, blending as it does elements from the smaller XE and the outgoing XF it replaces. But in launching the new model, Jaguar didn't just pull of a figurative high-wire act – it did quite a literal one. To drum up support for its newest debut, Jaguar undertook the stunt depicted in the video above, stringing a pair of carbon-fiber cables some 60 feet above the River Thames in London. With some guide wires and counterbalance weights to keep it all in check, and a motion-picture stunt crew orchestrating it all, the new XF drove over 780 feet from one bank of the river to the other, setting a new world record in the process. Instead of thinking too hard about the whys (seriously, though... why?) and hows, we suggest you just watch the video above. Related Video:

Watch Felipe Massa put the Jaguar C-X75 through its paces

Automakers who run their own racing teams enjoy the benefit of having top-flight professional racing drivers on call to help out with development work. Jaguar, unfortunately, has no such racing team, having sold its F1 operation to Red Bull back in 2004. So when it came time to put the C-X75 through its paces in this latest video, it turned to Felipe Massa. Why Massa, you ask? For one thing, having driven for so long for Ferrari, the Brazilian driver is used to applying his F1 skills in testing a supercar designed for the road. But since switching to Williams, he hasn't been called upon in that capacity. For another, it was Williams Advanced Engineering as much as Jaguar itself that spearheaded development of the C-X75. So Massa was the natural choice. The C-X75, for those who don't recall, represented Jaguar's plan to build a hybrid hypercar of its own. Having debuted way back in 2010 at the Paris Motor Show, the concept followed hot on the heels of the Porsche 918 concept unveiled earlier that year in Geneva – a predated by far the emergence of the McLaren P1 and LaFerrari. The original design called for a revolutionary powertrain combining a pair of micro-turbines and four individual electric motors in the wheels. When that proved unfeasible, Jaguar switched to a more conventional setup with a turbocharged hybrid powertrain. Unfortunately plans to put even that version into production were shelved. But the concept was revived for the filming of the latest James Bond movie Spectre. Check out the C-X75 being put through its paces by the eleven-time grand prix winner in the video above. Related Video:

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