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Jaguar F-Pace prototype goes to work at the Nurburgring

Jaguar is hard at work again, testing its upcoming F-Pace crossover. And here's our latest look at the prototype testing at the Nurburgring. The tester spotted here appears the same as the one we recently saw undergoing cold-weather development, only this time it's wearing summer rubber on fullsize wheels instead of winter tires on smaller ones. It's also missing the old prototype's auxiliary lights, and a bit more camouflage covering the quarter panels. The fact that it was seen on the Nordschleife, however, bodes well for the F-Pace and speaks to its orientation: Jaguar's first crossover promises to be geared towards performance, a sort of on-road counterpart to the off-road prowess of the SUVs offered by its sister brand Land Rover. We're looking forward to seeing the finished product at the Frankfurt Motor Show in the fall, but in the meantime you can scope out the spy shots in the slideshow above.

Road & Track names its 2013 Performance Car of the Year

Road & Track recently staged its first annual Performance Car of the Year test, pitting 13 new and updated performance cars against each other on track, then graduating the top six to a road test before picking a winner. Additionally, the magazine staff picked the best automobiles of the year in eight categories.
But first, let's cover the PCotY segment. Here's the list of cars brought to the comparison test: Audi R8 V10 Plus; BMW 435i; BMW M6 Competition Package; Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Z51; Ferrari F12 Berlinetta; Ford Fiesta ST; Jaguar F-Type V8 S; Jaguar XFR-S; Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S-Model Wagon; Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series; Mini John Cooper Works GP; Nissan GT-R Track Edition; and Porsche Cayman S.
To find out the results of the comparison, head over to Road & Track's website or check the press release below, where you'll also find the magazine's top-rated vehicles in eight categories. Want more? Head over to the 2013 PCotY hub. But before you do that, take a stab at guessing the winner of PCotY (we'll give you one hint: it isn't a Porsche).

Jaguar's next turnaround plan outlines a major shift to upmarket luxury

Jaguar wants to reinvent itself again, this time as a purveyor of EVs that competes in the luxury space dominated by Bentley. It outlined a turnaround plan written to help it move upmarket while launching a new range of models. Company boss Thierry Bollore, a French industry veteran who briefly ran Renault in the late 2010s, told British magazine Auto Express he wants Jaguar to represent what he described as "modern luxury." He added his vision of modern luxury is "extremely reductive" in terms of refinement, modernity, engineering, and technologies. Jaguar said it will go EV-only, yet it scrapped the next-generation XJ at the 11th hour in 2021 because the sedan didn't fit its image of a re-imagined brand. Making Jaguar synonymous with "modern luxury" requires starting from scratch. "The situation at Jaguar was really a concern from outside," said Bollore after revealing Renault looked at purchasing Jaguar-Land Rover in the late 2010s, "and more than a concern from inside, because the brand has been damaged to a certain extent." That's why the turnaround plan calls for a blank slate to rebuild Jaguar on. Design work for an entirely new range of Jaguar models has been completed, the executive affirmed, and Auto Express speculates the portfolio will initially consist of three models: a two-door sports car (likely a follow-up to the F-Type) and a pair of crossovers. Note that there's no sedan on the horizon. These three cars will ride on the same modular architecture, though it's too early to tell if it will be developed in-house or shared with another carmaker. They'll wear a new design language that was forged by holding an internal contest three teams participated in. Competing with Bentley, among other carmakers, will require convincing customers to pay six-digit sums. "Luxury starts not far from GBP100,000," said Bollore, a figure which represents about $140,000 at the current conversion rate. As of writing, none of Jaguar's models start above $100,000, though some cross that threshold once options are piled on. Its cheapest model, the E-Pace, starts at $39,950. Its most expensive is the electric I-Pace at $69,850. No one would pay $140,000 for an E-Pace, even if it's electric and brimming with tech, so Jaguar's upcoming models will all be relatively large. That doesn't mean Bollore will put a leaping cat emblem on a Land Rover Range Rover and call it a good job well done. He wants to ensure the two sister brands coexist without overlapping.