Jaguar

Jaguar to call next small car XS?

Jaguar is scheduled to release more details about its upcoming small car, which won’t look like the Bertone B99 Concept above, at the 2011 AutoRAI in Amsterdam. The details will include the car’s name, which is rumored to be XS.

The name fits into Jag’s current naming convention, but it seems more than a little cutesy to call your small car “XS.” Whether Jag meant the coincidence or not, word is they’re sticking with the moniker.

Jaguar is aiming the XS at the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3-Series and is working hard to make sure the new car isn’t as bad as its ill-conceived X-Type. There are rumors circulating about an XS-based roadster and coupe as well, but we wouldn’t hold our breath on that front, as Jaguar hasn’t yet released the sedan’s shape. Read more…

Panzani Design goes all Deathstar with Jaguar S-Type Vintage GT

For better or worse, nothing is quite as divisive as modern Jaguar design. The current XF is controversial enough in its own right, but the S-Type that came before was even more so. With its pinched grille and comically retro lines, the S-Type was the very antithesis of the model that followed. So how about making the old girl even more of a love-it or hate-it affair? Not an easy task, but Panzani Design has clearly risen to the challenge.

Reaching back a few years to when the S-Type was still around, the Italian tuner has given the retro Jag saloon such up-to-date features as 20-inch wheels mounted on a track widened by 10 centimeters and enormously flared arches to accommodate them. There’s also a new front bumper with integrated LEDs, a carbon fiber hood with vents, mesh lamp covers, side skirts, spoiler, diffuser, little round mirrors and what looks to be a very intricately crafted interior. Read more…

Bertone B99 Concept Envisions Future Jaguar Compact

Bertone B99 presented concept for the upcoming Geneva Motor Show 2011, presented by the Italian design house vision for a more traditional style with small Jaguar.

Official photos were leaked Thursday by Germany’s Auto Bild.

UK Autocar published a long feature on the car, including an interview with Bertone’s chief designer Mike Robinson, with the words, “Jaguars are looking for a new design direction and was quoted a small car – and we think this the right way, with a very light green house and the visual weight on the wheels concentrated. ”

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Jaguar XKR-S announced for 2011 Geneva Motor Show debut

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the E-Type, Jaguar has announced plans to introduce the XKR-S at the Geneva Motor Show.

Designed to be the sportiest Jag ever created, the XKR-S features an aggressive front fascia, black mesh grille inserts, and LED-infused headlights. Other goodies include modified front fenders, aerodynamic side skirts, a prominent rear diffuser, and a massive rear wing.

Under the hood, power is provided by a supercharged 5.0-liter V8 engine with 550 PS (405 kW / 542 hp) and 680 Nm (501 lb-ft) of torque. It enables the car to accelerate from 0-60 mph in 4.2 seconds, 0-100 mph in 8.6 seconds, and onto a top speed of 186 mph (300 km/h).

To ensure the XKR-S can handle like a proper sports car, engineers have installed a “bespoke” suspension and a reprogrammed Adaptive Dynamics system.

According to Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar’s Global Brand Director, “The XKR-S is a bold and exciting new model for Jaguar. We expect to attract both loyal and new Jaguar driving enthusiasts who still want the comfort, opulence and class only a Jaguar can offer, combined with inspirational performance.”

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Swedish designer reinvents the Jaguar E-Type

The Jaguar E-Type turns 50 this year, and we continue to pine for its classic lines to this day. Bo Zolland, a car designer from Sweden, is clearly also a fan of the iconic E-Type shape. Unlike most of us, though, he has the tools and skill to generate a vision of what the E-Type might look like were it to come back to life in the 21st century.

Zolland calls his rendered Jaguar homage the Growler E 2011 Concept, and it clearly takes design cues from the original version. We also spy some 240Z and Chevrolet Corvette, though you could just as easily say those cars learned their lines from the E-Type. Read more…

Jaguar bringing 550 hp XKR-S super coupe to Geneva

We’ve heard rumblings of a more-powerful XKR. We saw spy shots of the rumored two-door as it blew through the English countryside wearing a dash of camouflage. And now it’s official: Jaguar is bringing a more powerful XKR to the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, and goes by the name XKR-S.

We can only assume Jaguar is sticking with the supercharged 5.0-liter V8 as a motivational tool because the full details won’t be unvieled until next week’s shindig in Switzerland. However, we have been given a few numbers: 550 horsepower, 502 pound-feet of torque, a top-speed of 186 miles per hour and the ability to run from zero-to-60 miles per hour in just 4.2 seconds. Read more…

First Look: Jaguar C-X75 Concept

There’s a lot to the name of the Jaguar C-X75. The C stands for concept, X for experimental, and 75 for Jaguar’s 75th anniversary, which the storied British brand is celebrating this year. Too bad they didn’t sneak a T in there, for Turbine. Because this compact two-seat sports car debuting at the 2010 Paris show takes a unique approach to propulsion compared to the recent onslaught of eco-friendly supercars.

The highlight of the C-X75′s powertrain is a pair of micro-turbines that act as diesel-fed range extenders designed to help keep the car’s battery-powered EV motor turning the wheels. According to Jaguar, it’s the best of all worlds: the high-end performance enthusiast’s desire, but with fuel economy, emissions, and range that even the most frugal compact hybrid would struggle to match. The C-X75 also makes dramatic statements in the style, materials, ergonomics, and vehicle dynamics departments.

Jaguar HQ challenged the C-X75 project team to come up with a unique alternative propulsion approach. There would be no V-8 hybrid like the Porsche 918, or a pure EV like the Mercedes-Benz SLS E-Cell or Audi R8 E-Tron. Although C-X75′s approach is similar in scope to the Chevrolet Volt in that the concept can move under electric power alone, it’s the range-extending part that’s radically different.

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First Drive: 2011 Jaguar XJ L Supercharged

With the modern automobile’s mass generally increasing year by year, it is often said that the mark of a good vehicle is its ability to shrink around the driver — to drive like a smaller, lighter car than its lengthy list of standard equipment and safety features would suggest. Here, on the impossibly tight and windy sections of Malibu, California’s famed Mulholland Drive, the 2011 Jaguar XJ L Supercharged — Jaguar’s newest flagship luxury sedan — does exactly that.

More than 4000 pounds and 206 inches of luxury sedan isn’t exactly in its element hustling the fine, treacherously narrow line between jagged, rocky canyon walls and perilously steep drop-offs, but the Jaguar is sure-footed and well-composed. The winding ribbon of well-traveled gray asphalt seems custom-made for a 7/8ths scale car — a diminutive Lotus Exige, perhaps. Still, the long-wheelbase, aluminum-framed Jaguar XJ is up to the task, turning in with precision and quickness decidedly against the norm for the executive transportation class. But then, Jaguar has never been enamored with the norm.

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