Jaguar : C-X75 Concept stars at Paris Motor Show

Keith Adams

Jaguar C-X75
Jaguar C-X75

It’s already being described as the star of the Paris Motor Show, but the Jaguar C-X75 – a turbine-powered electric supercar concept with scarcely believable levels of technology and power – will be fighting for column inches with the astonishing Lamborghini Sesto Elemento.

However, the Jaguar has something of a performance advantage even if, currently, it’s a motor show flight of fancy. ‘Designed as a range-extended electric two-seater supercar, it explores the outer limits of both performance and sustainability,’ said Jaguar. We say it’s a clear indicator of how the supercar of 2020 will look.

The performance aspect is taken care of quite nicely by a 968bhp maximum power output, while the ability to go zero emissions in electric mode (for 68 miles) and recharge the batteries with efficient micro gas turbines caters for the sustainability aspect. Average CO2 emissions of 28g/km are also particularly startling.

That power figure is twinned with 1180lb ft of torque, and helps hustle the 1350kg C-X75 to 62mph in 3.4sec and to 100mph in a staggering 5.5sec, while the quarter-mile sprint is rattled off in 10.3sec. Top speed is 205mph.

[Source: Octane]

Keith Adams

30 Comments

  1. Great car, great company. This story shows why AROnline is the place to look if you want to get the best in news about British cars.

  2. I thought, for a moment there, that this was a new addition to the Lotus line-up. It certainly lacks the grace of previous Jaguar sports cars and sports tourers – it could be from almost any manufacturer.

  3. That’s a very nice surprise. We now have the Jaguar C-X75, the Aston Martin One-77, the new Lotus Elite and the new Morgan – things are looking up!

  4. That is one unbelievably beautiful, yet purposeful car.

    I can see elements of Lotus in the proportions but that is no bad thing. I have, in fact, only one criticism – the grille should be oval.

  5. Groovy – that looks great. I agree with the Lotus comments but that’s no bad thing. I would have either if given to me for Christmas! Why can’t MG come up with something as stunning? Alex.

  6. I love it – it looks like what the XJ220 would have looked like if it had evolved. Funkiest bit is the fab gear stick in the shape of the leaping Jag – nice!

    I said a few months back that Jaguar needed a new baby and a halo car – well here is the halo. Let’s hope they build it and then take it to Le Mans!

  7. I forgot to ask has anyone seen the Fisker Karma being displayed at the Paris Motor Show? That has great Jaguar styling cues and, in my opinion, looks just like how the new XJ should have looked.

  8. Call me grumpy, but it’s the XJ220 promise all over again. I will reserve judgement until I view it with my own eyes (which will be next Sunday!).

  9. Wonderful! Finally, the car industry has realized that there are more efficient ways to create electric energy than using a traditional car engine with its rather bad overall efficiency.

    Another interesting fact is that the two tiny turbines fitted to this car (with a combined weight of about half that of a 4-cyl. K-Series engine) are able to deliver enough power to keep the car running at a constant 100mph, where charge and discharge of the batteries are in balance.

  10. It looks like a car to me. Having grown up in the 1970s, I am still expecting to dress in silver Lycra, work for two hours a week and own four cars and a helicopter and eat gunge from a tube. I also anticipate that cars should look different by 2020.

    I wonder if Jaguar will produce a limited run of these for sale to customers at £5,000,000 each. Oh no, they’ve already pulled that scam with the XJ220 – surely those with money to burn won’t be fooled again so soon?

  11. @Duncan
    I take it that you are referring to the same fools who buy the Ferrari which stays at Modena and who are only allowed to drive it when Ferrari allow them to!

  12. The C-X75 is as utterly beautiful as the Lotus is boring and predictable. Sod the electricity and turbines, get a big rumbly turbo V8 in it and shove it down the production lines as soon as possible. Oh, and please don’t do an XF on us and water down a fabulous concept car into an anonymous Vauxota.

    Jaguar have progressed from frumpy muddly styling to the XK, which was nearly totally right, the XF Detroit Concept, which was totally right, and now this, which is perfect. Well done, Jaguar!

  13. This is stunning. There have not been many cars that have excited me over the last year or two – certainly not enough to comment – but this gave me a chill up the spine. I hope it makes production as it looks now. Well done, Jaguar.

  14. “Sod the electricity and turbines, get a big rumbly turbo V8 in it and shove it down the production lines as soon as possible.”

    Yes, Tim, I agree with you. Since Jaguar is now celebrating its 75th Anniversary, I don’t think the company should wait ten years before putting this car into production – the game will have moved on significantly by then.

  15. JLR are certainly on a roll – enough even to be worrying the once prestigious Germans.

    The C-X75 (dreadful name) reminds me of the XJ220 from the side profile but the rest is very Maserati.

    Funny how turbines are back after Rover’s serious escapade with them in the ’50s and ’60s. It seems like Rover’s DNA is alive and well…

  16. Alexander Boucke :
    Wonderful! Finally, the car industry has realized that there are more efficient ways to create electric energy than using a traditional car engine with its rather bad overall efficiency.
    Another interesting fact is that the two tiny turbines fitted to this car (with a combined weight of about half that of a 4-cyl. K-Series engine) are able to deliver enough power to keep the car running at a constant 100mph, where charge and discharge of the batteries are in balance.

    Well, it was something I commented on as being possible given Lotus’ new range-extender engine. Given that the generators can propel the vehicle in almost the same way as a diesel-electric locomotive works, you no longer need to be limited to using a conventional IC engine.

    Jet engines are pretty efficient at high revs and it is possible to use the turbine not only to charge the battery but also to send power directly via the generator to the wheels – when the battery runs out of spunk the power can be gradually switched by electronics directly to the wheels. Speeds greater than 200mph could be achieved. This is defintely a technology that merits much further investigation.

  17. @Andrew McCheyne
    I agree, the more I look at the C-X75 the more I think of the XJ13 – it’s not just the back, it’s the stance as well.

    I hope Jaguar just pop in a V8 and save the eco stuff for something a bit more suitable like a two wheel drive Freelander. Alternatively, they could put the Diesel V8 in a couple and race them around Le Mans just to appease those that are opposed to having fun.

    I don’t believe that, at the end of the day, a few thousand super cars running around the world are going to make a huge difference to global warming.

  18. Never mind the looks, my interest is in the technology. I find it very exciting that we now have electric drive vehicles, with all that means in efficiency, backed up by small highly efficient i.c. engines that are charging the batteries and overcoming the range problems with very low CO2 figures.

    This just seems so right but I have no idea if the costs prohibit its use in, say, a Ford Focus’ etc.

  19. They could build a series hybrid version of this within 3 years if the desire was there. I say get on a build it.

  20. I’m normally all for the newer motors on here, but this is pants. Sorry, Pants.

    There’s not a hint of Jaguar about that design – not even “current” Jaguar…

    I’m completely in agreement with the comment above stating it looks like it could have come from any manufacturer – it really does. That wouldn’t so bad but, as far as cars go, although fantastic to look it, it’s rather bland.

  21. @DaveH
    “Not even ‘current’ Jaguar.”

    No, but the new XJ does, at least, have a “look” which I like. I love the way the grilles been integrated and I love the back lights – very Jaguar if you really think about it.

    However, the C-X75 Concept is just too bland…

  22. The XJ doesn’t, as I’ve said before, have Jaguar looks. The XJ is a complete world away from the delightful XF and the XK – where’s the swoops and style? It’s just a big, bland, oversized car which looks like it has been designed by committee.

    The C-X75 Concept does have similar cues to the XK220 and the still-born XJ13 and it, at least, has Jaguar’s trademark swoopy rear arches – something dreadfully missing from the XJ. I still think that, as I said earlier in this Comments section, the Fisker Karma looks more like a Jaguar than the XJ.

  23. An interesting car and I hope it does well for Jaguar. However, I hate the styling – it’s ugly and badly proportioned…

  24. I have now been to the Paris Motor Show but am still disappointed – there were far more sexy things on the “gated” Jaguar stand. Smoke and mirrors folks…

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