Production version of C-X75 to get technical help from Williams F1 Racing.
Splendid. And just how much will it cost?
According to Jaguar, the production version of the C-X75 will cost between 700,000-900,000. Including Thai taxes, that comes to 100-130 million baht.
The British new-age supercar will come on to the market by 2013 and only 250 units will be made. The usual suspects slated to take delivery of the hyper Jag would be car-loving billionaires and collectors.
What's so special about it?
The people at Jaguar say the C-X75 is about British engineering being taken to the next level. Informally, it's also about Tata Motors' dream of forging a link to F1 racing.
The Indian carmaker _ which owns Jaguar and Land Rover _ has assigned the Williams F1 team to co-develop the market-ready version of the C-X75. Outsourcing is the best way out financially, just like what Jaguar did with the earlier XJ220 (see sidebar).
Will the concept's gas-turbine engine remain?
Although Jaguar officially confirmed production of the C-X75 late last week, no technical details have been announced. It has only mentioned that a "downsized, highly boosted petrol engine" is under development, meaning that the jet-power engine is unlikely to see the light of the day.
And if you consider the F1 link, there's an indication that the C-X75 could turn to 1.6-litre petrol-turbo technology _ to be used in F1 cars under new rules in 2013 _ producing over 500hp. The other technology transfer would be the carbon fibre chassis.
To keep in line with the green movement, Jaguar has confirmed electric motors driving the front and rear wheels. Such a hybrid drivetrain would allow 50km of pure electric driving, 99g/km of CO2 emissions on the overall and combined power to climb towards 800hp.
In other words, Jaguar is racing with Porsche about who will become the first to roll out a hybrid-powered supercar. The Germans have already announced production plans of the 918 Spyder concept.
Will the Jag beat the Veyron?
The only performance estimates released by Jaguar are: 0-100kph in less than 3sec, 0-160kph within 6sec and a top speed in excess of 320kph.
Taking those figures into account, the Jaguar could be nearly as quick as the Bugatti in acceleration terms (the Veyron does 2.5sec from 0-100kph) but far slower on the top end. But these days, taking off from the lights is more important than lighting up a rarely congestion-free autobahn.
At least, the Jag will be cheaper than the Bug by roughly one-third, yet more expensive than McLaren's forthcoming "Mega Mac" (see story below).
Looking back
The last supercar from Jaguar was exactly 20 years back when it decided to build the XJ220, first shown as a concept in 1988.
Instead of the getting the concept's 510hp 6.2-litre V12, the production XJ220 got a 550hp 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 (who says engine downsizing is new?) good for a 3.8sec 0-100kph time. Help came from TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing).
At the time, the XJ220 was cheaper than the C-X75 by half. One of them even made a Thai appearance at the British Embassy where it was turned over to a member of Thai royalty.
According to Jaguar sources, the supercat literally crawled back to its Thai head office after the car-loving prince found the clutch "too heavy".
Credit: Bangkok Post (www.bangkokpost.com)
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