Special Coverage
Frankfurt Auto Show
FRANKFURT – Jaguar expects to sell about 10,000 copies of its new small sports car annually at prices of E60,000-E80,000 ($84,000-$120,000).
The CX16, presented here as a “production concept,” widely is considered to be on the way to production.
Adrian Hallmark, global brand director-Jaguar Cars, declines to comment on how long it will take to bring the car into production at its U.K. factory, telling WardsAuto, “I can say this, everything on the production concept can be produced, with the possible exception of the seat structure.”
Hallmark says the segment for such sports cars, in which the Jaguar XK already competes, is about 70,000 units this year, and never has exceeded 100,000. The XK sells 6,000-7,000 units, he says, and “we would expect more from this car.”
The wide span in potential pricing would depend on the powertrain, Hallmark says. The show car has a supercharged 3.0L gasoline engine producing 380 hp and 332 lb.-ft. (450 Nm) of torque.
Borrowing a hybrid idea from Formula 1 racing, the car also has a 70-kW (95-hp) electric motor within its 8-speed automatic transmission.
In deceleration it recovers energy for a 1.6-kWh battery, and when the driver pushes a button on the steering wheel, he gets the extra horsepower and 173 lb.-ft. (235 Nm) of torque for up to 10 seconds.
The result is passing performance: from 31-75 mph (50-120 km/h) in just over 2 seconds. Top speed is limited to 186 mph (300 km/h).
The CX16 emits only 165 g/km of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of 41 mpg (5.7 L/100 km).
Other engines in the car are possible, says Hallmark, but it will not get a diesel, although some Jaguars are offered with a 2.2L diesel engine.
Hallmark calls the car a “1+1,” built for a driver and a significant other.
The CX16, built on an aluminum chassis, measures 175.0 ins. (444.5 cm) long, making it the shortest Jaguar since the K120 in 1954, according to the auto maker.
Width is 80.6 ins. (204.8 cm), height 51.0 ins. (129.7 cm), and wheelbase 103.2 ins. (262.2 cm). Those measurements make the concept shorter in overall length and height but wider than the current Porsche 911.
The design of the car is “as sensuous and appealing as any Jaguar has ever been,” Hallmark says, “although its proportions are more modern, with the cabin far more forward than in the D-type, E-type or XK120, other small sports cars with loyal Jaguar followings.”
He says his friends, who have seen the car during development, nonetheless tend to call it the “new E-Type.”
Design director Ian Callum says the large grille opening will be a feature of future Jaguars.
He says designers have spent six years revitalizing the brand, and the CX16 has “moved the current award-winning design language on to the next generation, creating a car that is the very essence of future Jaguar performance.”
