The hottest news in the auto world today comes from British luxury brand Jaguar. They have unveiled the plans for their new concept car, the I-PACE, which is a fully electric five-seater managing to be both a high performance vehicle and a family SUV at once. The move is widely regarded as a firing shot in the direction of Tesla’s Model X, which to this point has dominated the high-end electric SUV market.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=“13″ gal_title=“Jaguar I-Pace“]
The Jaguar I-Pace: the Hard Facts
- 500km range on the NEDC cycle
- 80% charge in just 90 minutes using 50kW DC charging
- 0-60mph in around 4 seconds
- Two, super-intuitive touchscreens
- 700Nm of instant torque
- Zero tailpipe emissions
A New Design to Fit New Technology
Ian Callum, Jaguar’s Director of Design, has celebrated the task of creating a purely electric vehicle, citing the new and dramatic design opportunities it offers as inspiring. With an incredibly compact flat Lithium-ion battery that is positioned low and right between the axles, not only does the vehicle’s centre of gravity drop and improve agility but there is simply a huge amount more space to play with.
Despite beginning the project with a blank sheet of paper, Callum has also expressed surprise at ‘how readily this type of vehicle took to being a Jaguar.’ And the I-Pace certainly does look like a Jaguar: clean lines, high attention to aerodynamics, a beautifully finished interior that proudly wears its British craftsmanship and an astonishing level of practicality and space. ‘Proportion, balance and stance’; these three integral factors of any Jaguar design can be found here by the bucket load.
Looking Forward
Jaguar are currently releasing the news of the I-Pace as a concept, but are expecting to roll something near-identical off the production line in 2018. If the rumours are true the price of the vehicle will be at a relative snip to its greatest competitor the Model X and make the vehicle a serious aggressor in the luxury SUV market.
All images courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover
