One Man's Dream Comes True: Jaguar Supercar Approved

Within weeks of becoming Editor-in-Chief here at TTAC (and through a truly unexpected twist of fate), I was given the opportunity to interview Jaguar’s head of Design, Ian Callum on the occasion of my first-ever visit to Detroit. True to our industry-centric mission, I was in town for Chrysler’s Five Year Business Plan, and to be perfectly honest, I struggled with the challenge of interviewing a chief designer, especially one who had recently rejuvenated the aesthetics of such a storied brand.

As I was fumbling through our breakfast interview, we were joined by a GM executive who happened to live at the hotel where Mr Callum was staying, and when I got the most unexpected answer of the interview, it’s safe to say this exec jumped as high out of his seat as I did. I had asked Callum what his favorite new car was, and to my complete surprise he answered “Chevrolet Stingray Concept.” That answer actually played a surprisingly important role in my subsequent career, as it earned Mr Callum and myself an invitation to GM’s Heritage Center (once we had scraped the GM exec’s jaw off the floor), where we spent three hours wandering around and taking in the best of GM’s glorious past.

Needless to say this was a turning point for me, an experience that banished any self-doubt I might have harbored about whether or not I could be truly passionate about cars. You can not spend that much time around those cars with a guy like Callum and not emerge a changed person. Moreover, it helped me understand in a more intimate sense, what it means to struggle to live up to a faraway but epically glorious past… a challenge that GM and Jaguar share.

So when Jaguar debuted a Callum-designed mid-engined supercar, the C-X75, I felt a weird sense of connection. I knew that, whether Jaguar built this car or not, it represented the culmination of one man’s dream. Though Callum admitted he wanted to do a “proper” supercar “for selfish reasons,” he was adamant that “Jaguar has the right” to build sensual, over-the-top supercars. And, luckily for him, he has bosses who agree.

According to Autocar, Jaguar will build 250 production versions of the C-X75, which will sell for over $1 million each. And though the majority of those will not use the concept’s turbine-electric drivetrain, Jaguar says a certain (small) number of C-X75s could be fitted with the futuristic jet drive. In any case, Jaguar will not simply be bunging a version of its V8 into the new supercar, as managers argue that “people expect us to be innovators.”

To that end, the car is being developed in partnership with the Williams F1 team, and the majority will likely be powered by a “highly boosted” 1.6 liter four-cylinder engine, similar to the ones to be used in the forthcoming F1 formula. With plug-in electric power at all four corners and a carbonfiber chassis, Autocar reports

Total power could amount to as much as 1000 bhp, but the car will also have an electric-only mode for urban use. Jaguar promises a 200mph top speed, zero to 100mph acceleration in less than six seconds and an all-electric range of about 30 miles.

Is it a pity that fewer than 50 C-X75s will be jet-powered? Perhaps. But this unconventional, achingly beautiful supercar is a wholly appropriate flagship for a brand that, against all odds, has clawed its way back from the brink and rejuvenated itself in a distinctly modern way. More importantly, it’s a fitting culmination to the career of the man who possibly understands what it means to be Jaguar better than anyone else. A man who, having designed such icons as the Aston Martin DB7, wanted only to create one over-the-top, mid-engined supercar. In a business that is rapidly losing its connection between passionate individuals and distinctive, daring cars, the C-X75 embodies just a little bit of the old emotion- (and yes, ego-)driven sensibility that defined the golden age of automobiles.