Jaguar sacrifices supercar for Tesla rivals

Jaguar will not make a production version of its C-X75 despite teasing the powerful supercar in the most recent James Bond Spectre film, according to a new report.

Nor will the luxury British car-maker replace the existing XK coupe and convertible, says Automobile.

Instead, the Indian-owned firm will pool its resources and development cash to create two new pure-electric vehicles.

The first car Jaguar will build will be a luxury four-door coupe that's set to eventually replace the current diesel and petrol XJ sedan.

According to the US car mag, the new Jag is being developed under the X590 codename and the pure-electric four-door coupe will rival both the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes S-Class.

Originally, the X590 was  supposed to be a traditional big sedan until design boss, Ian Callum, lobbied Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) CEO, Ralf Speth to make a more glamorous coupe.

The pair compromised with a large four-door coupe.

According to Automobile, the X590's all-new platform will be created in-house and will be overseen by former BMW engineer Wolfgang Ziebart, although the lithium ion cells and motors themselves might be sourced from third-party suppliers.

Also featuring the firm's autonomous tech, the new zero-emission XJ replacement is anticipated to launch a year before its first German rival - which should mean the X590 will be on sale, in Europe at least, some time in 2017.

Likely to house at least three electric motors, the XJ successor will boast all-wheel drive, a range of at least 500km and performance to rival the Audi e-tron quattro (0-100km/h in 4.6 seconds).

Hedging its bets, Automobile says Jaguar will keep the current XJ on sale for buyers put off by the concerns over range or lack of EV infrastructure. If demand drops for pure-electric cars, the X590 will then be re-engineered to accommodate a plug-in hybrid, or even a conventional petrol or diesel powertrain.

Once launched, a couple of years later in 2019 the second pure-electric SUV Jaguar will follow.

Confusing matters, the Jaguar SUV was originally planned to be a Range Rover until senior management ordered it to switch brands - possibly because its sleek, aerodynamic design was not compatible with the off-road Land Rover brand.

It's not known what codename the new SUV is being developed under but, according to the US magazine, the new Jag 4x4 looks very similar to the Audi e-tron quattro.

Jaguar will introduce two drivetrain variants, a rear-wheel drive and a dual-motor all-wheel drive version. Like Tesla, it will also offer three different battery pack options, meaning the new SUV will come with different ranges and performance.

Neither the X590 nor SUV to follow will be made in the UK. Instead, they will be assembled in Austria at the Magna Steyr plant in Graz that currently builds the Mercedes E-Class among others.

JLR hopes to sell 20,000-30,000 X590s per year and 30,000-50,000 SUVs.

As well as the new pure-electric models, Automobile says the British car-maker is also rapidly developing a new E-Pace SUV based on the Range Rover Evoque to take advantage of the still-growing global appetite for small SUVs.

The replacement for the current F-TYPE, meanwhile, will grow in size and sophistication to help fill the hole left by the XK. That means the second-gen F-TYPE coupe and convertible are both likely to be 2+2s.

Finally, the rumoured big all-aluminium J-PACE SUV, that's based on the current XJ, is now claimed to be on hold, because the JLR suits believe the expansion into pure-electric vehicles is the brand's main priority.