Rated at 295lb ft, there was one in the back and one in the front, where they each drove a transaxle, with power coming from a liquid/air-cooled battery pack. The intriguing turbines and wheel-mounted motors were ditched in favour of a 1.6-litre turbocharged and supercharged ‘four’ featuring port-fed fuel injection, which was paired with two electric motors. The design, though visually very similar to the concept car, featured comprehensive mechanical changes, most notably to the drivetrain. To carry out the transition from motor show mock-up to pre-production prototype, Jaguar enlisted the help of Formula One expert Williams Advanced Engineering. Like the Porsche 918 Spyder, the ambitious project C-X75 targeted both extreme performance and world-class fuel economy. The design brief was bold: to match or better the 0-100mph time of the Bugatti Veyron, the 40-mile pure-electric range of the Vauxhall Ampera, and the 89g/km CO 2 emissions of the Toyota Prius. To say that the C-X75 made an impression at its Paris launch would be a massive understatement, and the furore surrounding the car, coupled with an ambitious expansion plan, was enough to convince Jaguar Land Rover top brass to take a punt.īy May the following year, the firm had announced plans to produce a limited run of 250 vehicles, which were expected to cost between £750,000 and a cool £1m each. The monocoque, meanwhile, was made from aluminium – a Jaguar speciality. Trick suspension came with three settings: Normal, EV and Track, which as well as changing the digital display – such as Track mode’s timing screen – stiffened the springs, lowered the ride height and even brought up a map of your chosen circuit. The rest of the concept car was pretty clever, too. Just as noteworthy was the ability of the 80,000rpm turbines to run on a variety of energy sources, including diesel, biofuels and natural gas. Running exclusively on electric power, the C-X75 was said to be good for a 68-mile range, but that could be extended enormously thanks to a pair of gas turbines mounted behind the cockpit.Įach of the pint-sized engines, made by Worcestershire-based Bladon Jets, was mated to a small generator producing 140kW of electrical power, taking the car’s theoretical range to a whopping 560 miles – enough to get you from London to Aberdeen without stopping.
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