International Jaguar / Land Rover of Orland Park: May 2011

Friday, May 27, 2011

All-New Entry-Level Jaguar Delayed Until 2015

The autosphere is abuzzed with news that not only luxury marque's entry-level, or compact Jag's release date has been pushed back several years, but that the model may actually be as large as the XF sedan.

What?

First, why the delay? Autocar suggests the revised timing allows Jaguar to introduce its small model without cannibalizing sales from the current XF sedan. Seeing as both models are set to grow, the new “small” Jag may actually be close in size to today’s XF. If so, we wouldn’t blame buyers for opting for the newer model one bit.

“We definitely won’t kill today’s XF with a new small car,” Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar’s global brand director, told Autocar. “We’ll kill it with the new XF.”

But wait — why would a new small Jaguar be roughly the same size as the larger XF? In a word, competition. Both the next-generation BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedans are expected to grow in stature, and accordingly, so should the small Jag in order to remain competitive. That’s apparently a touchy subject at Jag, considering the last stab at crafting a small model — the X-Type — was essentially a flop. Jaguar engineering chief Bob Joyce tells the British magazine the new car “has to be designed and engineered to be exactly right for its market,” and if that market is moving larger, then so too shall the Jaguar.

After being blown away by both the XF and the radically rethought XJ, we can’t wait to see what Jaguar has in store for this “new” segment. Sadly, it seems we’ll have to do just that — and for a little longer than we originally expected.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Jaguar Says Yes to Production Version of C-X75 Concept

Both our offices and the autosphere is celebrating with news that Jaguar has given the green light to a production version of the C-X75 supercar.

Jaguar hasn’t released many details about the vehicle just yet, but we do know the production car will sprint to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds, top 200 mph, and emit fewer than 99 grams of CO2 per kilometer. We’re told to expect more details on the C-X75’s powertrain, performance, and official name on September 1 when dealers begin accepting orders. Williams F1 promises to bring “engineering expertise in areas including aerodynamics, carbon composite manufacture and hybrid technologies” to the partnership along with considerable motorsport knowledge.

The production C-X75 will use a traditional internal combustion engine with a small displacement and lots of boost along with an electric motor for each axle. Jaguar expects the C-X75 to have a range of approximately 31 miles in EV mode. Though there’s no specific promise of a micro-turbine powertrain option like we saw in the concept car, Jaguar’s press release does mention Tata’s “significant stake” in Bladon Jets and indicates the technology is a “medium-term aspiration that will play a part in Jaguars of the future.”

When the C-X75 debuted in Paris, Jaguar wanted to showcase a sustainable supercar. In today’s release Jaguar Land Rover CEO, Dr. Ralf Speth said, “a supercar like the C-X75 is the logical choice to showcase cutting-edge design, intelligent use of new environmental technologies and motorsport-inspired performance.” When interviewed last year about the C-X75 concept, design director Ian Callum said: “This vehicle ticks all the right boxes: it moves our form language to a higher level, it is state-of-the-art in terms of materials used and weight saved, it is refreshingly minimalistic in style and execution, and as far as electrification goes, it offers a variety of fresh and yet quite feasible solutions.”