Car Moon

With the E-Type of 1961, Jaguar was back in a big way. Essentially a spiritual successor to the legendary XK120 of the 1940s and ‘50s, the E-Type had everything going for it: looks, performance and price.

Since then, much has changed for the brand. The malaise of the 1970s, the reliability woes of the ‘80s and the reheated design language of the ‘90s all placed a burden on the Big Cat.

Then, at the 2000 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), Jaguar unveiled the F-Type Concept to the world. And by God was it a stunner. The lines were simple yet provocative; the interior refreshingly Spartan and functional for a concept car.

Swayed by recent media reports from Britain, Carscoop reader L il-k Amaru returned to his virtual drawing board and photoshoped a convertible version of the hardcore Jaguar XKR-S, which was unwrapped in coupe format at the 2011 Geneva Salon this past March.

If the rumors about the XKR-S Convertible turn out to be true, expect the open top model to feature the same styling and performance modifications as the coupe.

The super rich automotive collectors of this world will soon have one more choice to add to their list as today, Jaguar officially confirmed the limited production of its flashing C-X75 hypercar that drew much attention at last year’s Paris Motor Show.

To be developed in cooperation with Williams F1, the C-X75 will make use of hybrid powertrain with Jaguar aiming to have the car on sale in 2013. The British maker said only 250 examples will be built, each costing between £700,000 - £900,000, or US$1.16 million to US$1.44 million at today’s exchange rates, depending on market and local taxes.

To have it in the market within a considerable timeframe, Jaguar will replace the jet-powered setup of the original concept with a more conventional, yet still innovative for today’s standards, powertrain comprising of a state-of-the-art, small-capacity, highly-boosted internal combustion engine with one powerful electric motor at each axle offering all-wheel drive capability.

Bertone and Jaguar have joined forces again, and the result is this lovely little concept called the B99. Celebrating 99 years of existence, Bertone's B99 is meant to showcase what a Jaguar 3-Series could look like (and thankfully there's no silly black C-pillar as found on the XJ). While some may disagree with this design's placement in the lineup, one thing is certain: an X-Type this ain't.

The B99 measures 4.5 meters long, 1.35 m tall, and 1.95 m wide with a 2.8 m wheelbase. As befits all Jaguars, there's a leaper on the hood; this time, though, it uses some snazzy pedestrian safety sensors that can retract it at airbag speeds should an impaling be imminent. Think of it as dab of Rolls with your Jaguar.

There's more retraction action at the trunk end of things, too, with a speed-sensing spoiler in the trunk.

In all honestly, I really struggle to see how the Bertone B99 fits into Jaguar’s past and current design lineage and line-up. The new generation of Jags – the XF and the XJ – are sleek, risqué and look like nothing else on the market. On the other hand, the B99 could just as easily be badged as a Lincoln, a Rolls-Royce or a Maserati. If you squint at the pictures you’ll see my point. It’s anonymously styled, as if Bertone used a book called, “Luxury Concept Cars 101” as a template. And that grille! It just screams, “Dodge Caliber!” Read more »

[Updated with high-res pictures] After the teaser image we showed you earlier today, the first three images of Bertone's design study for a compact Jaguar, hit the web. Dubbed B99 (for the 99th anniversary of Bertone) the eye-catching concept car has a sleek coupe profile, even though it's a four-door sedan. The suicide doors give it a distinctive appearance, but if Jaguar were to build a production model, it's unlikely that they would remain.

While it might look like a long limousine, the Italian design house's B99 concept is just 4.5 meters long. Combine this with the very low height (1.35 meters) and the pretty wide body (1.95 meters) and you have a small sedan looking like a much bigger and more luxurious model, whose profile brings to mind the classic Jaguar XJ.

Whispers of a new design study for a Jaguar model from Bertone have been going around lately, but today, a teaser image surfaced online providing us with our first peek at the car, which is named B99 (Bertone 99) and is set to premiere at next month's Geneva Motor Show.

The B99 is a conceptual proposal for a 'baby' Jaguar model targeting the likes of the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes C-Class saloons. The concept will feature a traditional four-door sedan body with more classic proportions and styling cues than the XJ and XF.

According to UK magazine Autocar, Jaguar is considering the development of a crossover / SUV model, presumably to boost sales in Europe and the North America. While creating internal competition for Land Rover models, such as the Evoque, doesn’t sound like a good idea, the project has the backing of Jaguar boss Adrian Hallmark.

“We need a crossover and we need to stop being a saloon-based company”, he told Autocar. This gives the news some credibility, otherwise we might have been tempted to dismiss it as an empty rumor.

Without doubt, the star of Jaguar's stand at this year's 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show is the range-extended electric supercar concept, the C-X75, which is designed to celebrate 75 years of the marque, but also to provide a glimpse into the future of Jaguar.

As Porsche begins development on the hybrid 918 Spyder, Jaguar is reportedly taking the idea of a limited-run production version of its Paris Motor Show C-X75 concept into consideration. Autoweek reports that the British luxury marque is discussing the possibility of building up to 2,000 units annually of its XJ220 successor. If you're thinking about getting the checkbook out anytime soon, though, hold it right there.

We've already played 'show and tell' with Jaguar's C-X75 Concept (read full details here), but now we've got real live photos from the pre-show media event as well as from the British firm's Paris Motor Show stand, plus a trio of videos including one from last night's presentation.

To celebrate the big 7-5, Jaguar has rolled out its XJ220-inspired 780-horsepower C-X75 RE-EV (range-extended electric vehicle) concept. Power for this looker is supplied by electric motors working in conjunction with "micro gas-turbines", which also throw in 1180 lb-ft / 1,600 Nm of torque. Jaguar claims the 6-hour-to-charge plug-in sports car has a range of 560 / 900 km miles and an Lithium-ion-only range of 68 miles with a "potential top speed" of 205 mph (330 km/h).

It's become somewhat common knowledge at this point that Jaguar is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, but just in case the limited edition XKR175 Coupe doesn't spread the word at this weekend's Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance in California, Jaguar also readied the XJ75 Platinum concept.

Jaguar will use the upcoming "World Mobility Forum" exhibition in Stuttgart, Germany (April 15-18), to show off its XJ "Limo Green" hybrid study that was teased for the first time last September.

The 2011 XJ-based Limo Green makes use of a Chevy Volt-like hybrid powertrain with a range extending gasoline engine that was developed in conjunction with Lotus, MIRA and Caparo.

The XK series of 'grand tourers' is a successor to Jaguar's original XK sports cars. Resurrected in 1996, the XK replaced the aged XJS luxury coupe with a car more fitting of the XK nameplate: a pretty coupe or convertible with (optional) big engines driving the rear wheels.

Ten years after its revival, Jaguar brought fans of the XK8 and XKR a new, high-tech take on the XK, proving that they can keep a good thing going.

If you made it to this weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed (July 3-5), there's no way you could have not noticed Jaguar's special edition XKR. The one-off performance model that was purposely built for the event was painted in an extremely distinct lime-green color while the coupe also featured special exterior graphics in gray and orange.

The lime green Jaguar you see going slideways above is the 'Goodwood Special XKR', a one-off model that it will make its world debut at this weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed. It is based on the facelifted 2010 XKR that exits the factory with a supercharged 5.0-liter V8 producing 510HP and 625Nm of torque that propels the coupe to 60mph (96km/h) from standstill in 4.6 seconds. Jaguar said that the one-off model features an array of performance enhancements and a louder exhaust, but did not disclose any specific details.