Goodbye, Prius. If you’re the kind of geek who’s been waiting for a hybrid concept to come along that really turns heads, you’re in luck. Today, as part of its 75th anniversary, Jaguar has released one humdinger of a concept car that’s not only drop-dead gorgeous and energy efficient, but it goes fast, my friends. Zoom.
According to the company, the thinking behind this design was to create something that “explores the outer limits of both performance and sustainability.” In other words they are looking to distance themselves considerably from the slow, wonky-looking hybrids popular today while maintaining a certain geek sentiment and a sense of style. It’s pushing the boundaries of current technological advances to produce something that really gets our motors going.
Get this, too. In the electric department the C-X75 is powered by four 195-horsepower motors. And no, you won’t find them under the hood. The motors are in the wheels. According to the New York Times, this particular system means that “the wheel motors give the vehicle and all-wheel drive system, with torque-vectoring controls to distribute power as needed to each wheel.” In addition to the electric motors is “a 188-horsepower gas turbine engine that can recharge the batteries and help extend the car’s range from 68 miles on all-electric power to a total of 560 miles” according to Jaguar.
Now, keep in mind that this is a concept car. It’s going to be a while until something like it is available to the public. And while all of these specs sound promising (and the car looks really sweet), I’l bet the guys at Top Gear will probably have a lot to say about this when and if they can take it for a ride. Generally speaking, newer, more complicated cars don’t fare so well as their gas-guzzling predecessors on Top Gear mostly due to the sacrifices needed to get better mileage taking a toll on general performance.
And while chances are that are very few of us will ever be able to afford a car like this, even when it–or something like it–is available to the public, a geek can still dream, can’t she?
Tags: automobiles, Cars, Green Cars, hybrid, jaguar, sustainability