I-Pace

Make
Jaguar
Segment
SUV

Back in 2010 Jaguar revealed its C-X75 concept and after rave reviews and strong hints from the automaker, production seemed inevitable. While a C-X75 revival of sorts happened when it appeared in the James Bond movie "Spectre", the car never materialized. Jaguar figured the C-X75 wouldn't be profitable to justify, and yet it still missed out on an opportunity. Australia's Motoring recently spoke with the I-Pace's engineering manager, Dave Shaw, about the new EV platform, its capabilities and future possibilities.

"I think, personally, moving forwards, once people accept that actually there's more benefits that come with an EV rather than negatives, why would that not work in a hypercar?" he said. "Look around. Rimac is doing an EV hypercar, McLaren is a doing an EV hypercar." What made the C-X75 so interesting was not only its stunning design, but also its innovative powertrain. At first, it featured a gasoline-electric turbine engine which, we admit, may not be the most suitable for production, even on a limited scale. When the C-X75 popped up again on the big screen, the powertrain switched to a gasoline-electric setup with a 1.6-liter turbo four-cylinder engine linked to a pair of electric motors.

Does the latter sound familiar? It should because the Mercedes-AMG Project One also makes use of a 1.6-liter turbo (a V6, however) and four electric motors. Point being is that Jaguar was ahead of its time and missed out. Based on our own conversations with Jaguar, the I-Pace platform offers many opportunities, and we don't see why a new hypercar can't be one of them. "EV is a very elegant solution for an automobile, and that's transferable from something that's a city car all the way up to a hypercar," Shaw added.