1962 - Jaguar Other on 2040-cars

Auto blog

How and why Jaguar designed an electric SUV

Adrian Belew, front man of famed progressive rock band King Crimson and collaborator with Bowie, Zappa, and the Talking Heads, released a prescient song in 1982, but we didn't know exactly how prophetic it was until this week. The song was titled Big Electric Cat, and its lyrics seemed to predict nearly 35 years ago the unveiling of Jaguar's first all-electric vehicle, a production-ready crossover concept with the not-so-ingenious name, I-Pace. She arrives like a limo/Smooth and moving/On the prowl through the crowd/To the beat of the city/She glows in the dark/Wherever she parks/Concrete crumbles and the night rumbles. At first glimpse of the I-Pace, you may not have precisely the same feeling of disintegration as the roadbed Belew mentions, but there is no denying that the new Jag is important for the brand. Flush with investment from its corporate overlords at Tata, the company is on its most robust product offensive ever, rounding out its lineup to become a full-range manufacturer, investing in autonomous driving and projective head-up technologies, nearly doubling global sales, and now going electric. "This is probably the most important car since the E-Type, I really mean that," says Jaguar director of design Ian Callum. "And when we get this car out into production and it gains recognition and popularity, I think history will show it's a significant step for the brand. Not only because we're embracing the future, quite openly and honestly, but because we're going to beat the rest of them. Tesla is there already, but none of the rest." As a challenger brand – one not in the top of mind consideration set like rivals at Mercedes, Audi, or Lexus – Jaguars are made or broken on this kind of differentiation. The I-Pace is certainly distinctive, and looks like nothing else on the road. Like many contemporary Jaguars, its rear three-quarter view is its most compelling, with the slender half-round taillights inspired by the legendary E-Type that were first revived on the F-Type and have since become a signature. But here, the rear end is shaved off and in an angular concavity that seems an effort to take as much mass as possible out of the back, and one that echoes elsewhere on the vehicle: in the scalloped sides, in the continuous path of glass from the base of the front windshield to (almost) the base of the rear liftgate. But especially in the foreshortened and deep-nostriled hood.

Jaguar Land Rover in talks for Southern US factory

Jaguar Land Rover is getting serious about global expansion, and that means it can't only build its vehicles in the UK anymore. The British automaker is cutting the ribbon at its new plant in China tomorrow, marking the opening of its first factory outside the UK. In 2016, it will open another factory in Brazil. But the latest intel has it that JLR is looking into a US factory, as well.
The report, which comes to us from the Sunday Times by way of Automotive News Europe, indicates that the company is evaluating locations for a North American factory, with options centering around Southern right-to-work states like South Carolina, where BMW operates its plant in Spartanburg and a wide array of other automotive operations are based as well. The JLR plant would reportedly ramp up to a capacity of 200,000 units per year.
In related news, while that new plant JLR is inaugurating in Changshu, China, is initially slated to produce the Range Rover Evoque, it is also expected to start building the new Discovery Sport as well - just like the Halewood plant in the UK that has handled Evoque assembly from the start and which just built its first Discovery Sport, as well.

Jaguar previews XF sedan ahead of New York debut

Jaguar is in the midst of an aggressive product expansion, with the new F-Type taking it back into sports-car territory, the upcoming F-Pace putting it in the crossover market for the first time and the XE renewing Jag's assault on the entry-level luxury-sedan segment. But it hasn't forgotten about its core models. The British automaker has a new flagship XJ under development, and Jag will showcase a brand-new XF at the New York Auto Show next month. But before it does, Jaguar has given us something to chew on with these teaser images: one showing the new sedan from above, and one showing the new cockpit. Now it may be hard discern much from that overhead view – which is not a typical teaser – but it's clear the new XF will feature more sharply creased body lines and a large panoramic sunroof. Meanwhile the interior looks like a modern update of the current model, borrowing some elements from the smaller XE. There's a wider infotainment display, the rotary knob for the transmission has moved toward the center, some (but not all) of the air vents appear to hide away when not in use, and there's a sportier steering wheel – though we do appear to be looking at the more performance-oriented S model. The XF, for those having trouble keeping track, is Jaguar's challenger to the likes of the Mercedes E-Class, BMW 5 Series, Audi A6 and Maserati Ghibli. It was introduced in 2007, and has been available (in certain markets anyway) in sedan and wagon forms, with engines ranging from a 2.0-liter turbo four with 240 horsepower all the way up to a 5.0-liter supercharged V8. With the New York show fast approaching, we won't have to wait much longer for a complete view of the new XF. But even before then, Jaguar promises to reveal the new XF in dramatic fashion in London: on March 24, it will drive the new sedan on two wires barely more than an inch thick suspended high above the river.