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Jaguar's Impossibly Green Super Machine
by
Derek Kreindler
(IC: employee)
Published: June 21st, 2013
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Close to 900 horsepower. Less CO2 emitted than a Prius. The sound of a Formula 1 car. And Jaguar will never build this car.
Autocar got the chance to drive one of the Jaguar C-X75 prototypes that were built by JLR. Originally slated to be powered by a novel turbine system, the powertrain was scrapped and replaced with a 1.6L twincharged 4-cylinder and a plug-in hybrid system. Acceleration was said to be in the sub-3 second 0-60 range while emitting just 95 grams of CO2 per km. In the face of the recession, Jaguar eventually balked at building a $1 million supercar, but it’s a tough pill to swallow knowing that this could have been a serious challenger to the LaFerrari and McLaren P1, as well as a great halo for Jag.
Derek Kreindler
More by Derek Kreindler
Published June 21st, 2013 10:24 AM
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While admittedly probably the best sounding 4 cylinder I've ever heard in a street car, that is most definitely not the sound of an F1 car. Still wish it would've been made, especially with the turbines. That XJ13 is a jaw dropping gorgeous looking and sounding car. I had the privilege of seeing it displayed at the 12 Hours of Sebring several years ago. The Jag episode of the old Speed series "Victory by design" was one of my favorites partially due to that car. I hated Alain De Cadenet for being such a lucky bastard.
Can't they just price these at >$1.5mil and do a limited production run? Shame we'll probably never see one on the road.
This car not getting built is no loss. Even among car dorks, can anyone really get worked up about one more aerowedge-shaped Viagra pill with yet another hybrid gimmick? That shtick is hardly exotic, its just expensive and as a technical exercise these days is damn near generic. Yawn.
Most likely they wereren't able to garner enough deep pocketed supporters. When the C111 was built they were flooded with deposit cheques and nonetheless it was never sold to public at large. Then the later Jag ( i cant remember its model supposed to have a v12 only to have a turbo v6 in the end ) which had a whole bunch of deposits to be returned to the buyers.