Jaguar’s production version of the C-X75 concept is still on schedule to make its debut around late next year. The concept was originally to be built with a jet-turbine technology, but instead Jaguar has announced that it will stay with a conventional internal combustion engine paired with a plug-in hybrid system. Sounds boring, but like the journalists invited to Jaguar’s test facility in Gaydon, England discovered, this engine is a little bit different and will be like none other found in any production car on the market today.
MotorAuthority reports, “The engine will be a four-cylinder unit displacing just 1.6 liters but developing more than 500 horsepower and revving past the 10,000-rpm mark. This will be made possible thanks to a myriad of technologies including direct fuel injection as well as supercharging and turbocharging.
The engine will either drive the rear wheels via a seven-speed single clutch transmission (picked for its lightness) or generate electricity to charge up the car’s lithium-ion battery pack. This battery will then power a pair of electric motors, one at each of the axles, and combined the system should be able to accelerate the car from 0-60 mph in under 3.0 seconds and see it reach a top speed in excess of 200 mph.
The setup will also enable multiple driving modes, including all-electric and hybrid modes, but curiously no gas-only setup. According to Autocar, in electric-only mode the car will have a range of 37 miles and 0-60 time of less than 6.0 seconds.”
Although it sounds impressive, the Ferrari Enzo and McLaren F1 successors, as well as the Porsche 918 Spyder will rival the C-X75 with similar performance.
Only 200 models of the C-X75 are scheduled for production. Pricing for the Jaguar C-X75 will likely be around $1 million.