The Jaguar C-X75 is now more than a concept -- it's a very early prototype of sorts. You may remember the outlandish super coupe from the 2010 Paris Auto Show where it showed up sporting twin micro turbines that powered four electric motors.
At today's press conference in London, Jaguar officials laid out a more road ready powertrain consisting of two electric motors -- one in front, one in back -- and a 1.6-liter, turbocharged engine developed in partnership with the Williams Formula One team.
Jaguar officials didn't throw out any power numbers, but they did promise a 0-60 mph time of less than three seconds. And if you're not in a hurry, it will run on electric power alone for up to 30 miles and up to 300 miles with the help of the gas engine. Yes, this will be a Volt times ten.
That goes for the price too. Jaguar said it only plans to build 250 road going version of the C-X75 and they'll run a cool $1.15M each. Production is scheduled to begin in late 2013.
In the battle for the luxury EV sedan market, you might think that the Tesla Model S was out in front. It seems to get all the press these days thanks to the company's recent IPO and high-profile founder, Elon Musk.
In reality, the Fisker Karma appears to have a far greater chance of actually coming to market. The company unveiled the first factory-built version of its Karma luxury sedan at the 2010 Paris Auto Show. And as you can see from these pictures, the car looks very much finished.
There's a real suspension underneath the car and a very functional looking Ecotec 2.0-liter under the hood. The Karma uses a setup similar to the Chevrolet Volt where the batteries are charged by the gasoline generator engine after the initial charge is depleted.
The interior looked nearly complete as well. There were a few odds and ends that still looked like they had some finishing work still left, but for the most part everything seemed functional. The doors opened and closed with a standard clunk and the buttons and switches were clearly production units and not concept show pieces.
With the Tesla Model S still two years away, the Fisker Karma S looks like it will have quite the head start. We'll see if that means a first mover advantage, or if the Karma merely paves the way for the less expensive Tesla sedan.
Saw this wheel and tire combination on a 335i sedan at the Paris Auto Show. Those are 30-series tires on those wheels and they struck me as impossibly thin for street use. Sure, there's the occasional super car with such paper thin sidewalls, but this was a 3 Series, and a 3 Series sedan at that.
Can't imagine how this car would ride on the street. Not so sure I would want to find out.
#parismotorshow The 1960 R360 coupe was the first Mazda production car, and it was evidently in the booth as part of the 90th birthday party Mazda was throwing for itself. The first 40 years saw the company build a range of items from motorcycles to rifles.
The Mazda R360 is incredibly small -- to our imprecise naked eye, it's just over half as long as our long-term '94 MX-5. Make the jump to see the daintiest mudflaps ever.
#parismotorshow Buried deep within the BMW display is the M Experience. It features a pair of M3s, one matte-black coupe and another gloss black convertible, each of which has its own audio/visual display to highlight its various features.
The coupe has a more traditional video full of track footage and flashy studio shots. On the convertible side, there's this wall display complete with an accompanying soundtrack that lets you hear an M3 ripping through the gears. Sounds good, real good.
#parismotorshow The 2010 Paris Auto Show was the official coming-out party for the 2012 Nissan GT-R. There wasn't much fanfare, just a small room off to the side where the lone GT-R sat behind glass walls.
There's a reason Nissan wasn't too eager to put the new GT-R front and center. Despite its very finished-looking exterior, Nissan gave the ol' "No comment" when it came to specs on the mildly revised supercar. We're not expecting much, but the fact that Nissan officials weren't giving anything up suggests there is some degree of change coming to the GT-R. We were told to expect the full story within a few weeks. Hope it's worth waiting for.
#parismotorshow The Citroen DS3 WRC was the third rally car unveiled here in Paris. Like the Fiesta and Mini Countryman WRC cars, it will use a a turbocharged and direct-injected 1.6-liter inline four-cylinder. Citroen rates the DS3 WRC's motor at 300 hp and 258 pound-feet of torque. It's hooked to a Sadev six-speed sequential gearbox that drives all four wheels. Sebastian Loeb can manually control the center differential, while the front and rear differentials are said to be auto-locking. Surely, though, Loeb has some say over just how auto they are.
Suspension consists of struts at all four corners with adjustable dampers. Brakes consist of 14-inch ventilated front discs and 11.8-inch ventilated rear discs, each with a four-piston caliper. Steering remains hydraulic-assist.
The Citroen Survolt debuted way back at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show, but the electric-vehicle concept is still pulling them in here in Paris. Putting a model next to the car never hurts, but there was an audience before she showed up. They weren't here to learn more about the Survolt's complex EV technology, because most likely, there really isn't any. Citroen suggests it's an EV tuned for track use, but it's only a suggestion, as the company offers no further details on a propulsion system of any kind.
In any case, the Survolt was still the best car in Citroen's very large booth in Paris.
#parismotorshow Lotus Cars rolled out its all-new future lineup yesterday at the 2010 Paris Auto Show and the star of the lineup was the new Esprit. Odd, then, that Lotus chose to bring out a couple of B-listers like Naomi Campbell and Brian May from Queen to pull the sheet off of it.
We already told you it will have a 620-horsepower 5.0-liter V8 and weigh around 3,200 pounds. What we couldn't do yesterday was give you a good look at the new Lotus Esprit from every angle.
Now that the crowds have died down, we went back for a closer look. It's certainly an original design, but we're not sure it's a pretty one. There's too much going on behind the C-pillar, and those side windows look a little small. Then again, it's just a concept, as the production car isn't due for another two years. More photos after the jump.
See that floor? It's covered in leather. And not just any leather. It's exactly the same stuff found in the new 2011 A8 sedan. Why did Audi do it? Because it could.
As you might expect, it's quite nice on the feet. Good for making the room quiet, too. It's not so good for air circulation, though, as the room was also oppressively hot. Oh well, maybe next time Audi will try Alcantara.
#parismotorshow -- New vehicle introductions at the Mazda press conference? Uh, not so much. Notably missing in action was the recently revealed Shinari concept, which previews the next direction in Mazda facial expressions. We've been told we'll see it at the 2011 Geneva show, but we wouldn't be surprised if its official auto show debut comes sooner than that, like say in Detroit.
The Paris press conference was instead a 90th birthday celebration for Mazda featuring a championship mountain biker pulling off some impressive stunts with his Mazda-badged bicycle (including landing it atop the roll cage of a race-prepped Miata with unusual red-white-blue livery) and a blonde woman in a particularly flattering silver warm-up suit. Not one of the Inside Line staffers has ever looked so stunning in a warm-up suit. Oh, and there's cake at the end. Real cake. And a 2011 Mazda 2. It's the European-spec version of the car that just went on sale in the U.S. In this video, we bring you selected highlights from the 15-minute performance.
Earlier today, Lotus showed off the 2013 Lotus Esprit and it was...gorgeous. I guess if you're not going to be the lightest, might as well look damned good, right?
Backing up those good looks is a 5.0-liter Toyota-sourced 620-horsepower V8 with optional F1-style KERS brake regeneration.
When the Esprit hits dealerships in a couple of years, it'll carry a price "around $175,000." Well, that's then. For now, here's what the official Paris introduction of the 2013 Lotus Esprit was like.
For a new guy, Porsche CEO Matthias Muller sure is doing a lot of talking. First it was the NASCAR thing, and now Muller has let fly more information on the Porsche Panamera Hybrid.
Last week Matthias said he had driven a plug-in hybrid Porsche Panamera. This is a bit surprising, as the Cayenne hybrid is not a plug-in and it was long rumored that the two would share drivetrain components.
Production of the plug-in Panamera is not confirmed, but Muller said that he had to make a decision on production of the car in the next month. Surely, we'll hear more about this in the near future.
Muller went on to talk about Porsche in more general terms: "The most important thing for Porsche is to be a product-driven company. Product, product, product....The 911 is the icon of Porsche. As long as I am in charge of Porsche it will be the icon of Porsche."
So in with dreams of a plug-in Panamera, out with dreams of a Turbo Cayman Spyder.
In what was either a collective hallucination or perhaps a heart-warming tale of redemption and universal brotherhood, Lotus was paid a visit today by the 15-foot-tall Ghost of Auto Shows Past, which hovered creepily over the company's afternoon press conference.
And after showing Lotus images of its younger self and calling the Paris show "a crock of merde," the specter vanished.
Said a clearly shaken Lotus CEO Dany Bahar, "That scared the dickens out of me!"
(Mark Takahashi gets full credit for the above abomination ::sigh::)
#parismotorshow In what seemed to be a slip of a very eager tongue, new Porsche Boss Matthias Mueller let go that Martin Winterkorn, CEO of the Volkswagen Group (and guy who wants to make Porsche sparkle) will be meeting with Roger Penske at this year's season-wrapping Homestead-Miami race.
This isn't a first by any means. Remember when the Toyota Camry joined the NASCAR circus? It had a new, midsize family sedan that was built in the USA and wanted to prove to good ol' 'Mericans that Built-in-USA was just as good as being American.
And now Volkswagen, with its new "NMS" and Chattanooga factory is playing the same game. Volkswagen is desperate to become as powerful a carmaker in the U.S. as they are in other parts of the world and for that to happen, the midsize sedan is the way to go. And apparently, promoting it through NASCAR is the cracked door they see as an entry way.
We'll see if this works, or if the meeting between Winterkorn and Penske even bears fruit, but for now, a VW in NASCAR is a concept that is very much alive and well.
#parisautoshow Matthias Mueller starts his new job as president and CEO of Porsche tomorrow. Lucky guy. Not even on the job yet, and he's already dropping some serious news. Namely that Porsche will build 918 examples of the plug-in-hybrid supercar 918 Spyder and that 29 percent (my math puts that at 266.22 vehicles -- I call the .22) of them will be headed for the U.S.
Mueller went on to say that they are going to "finish the concept version of the car by the end of this year" and that the production version "will be done as soon as possible."
Checkbooks ready, kids? This one's going to go fast.
Mini Scooter E? What Scooter E? Mini unveiled the Mini Countryman WRC today in Paris. We've seen and heard this car tearing up the Portuguese countryside, and it looked great under the million fluorescent lights of an auto show, too. Prodrive is prepping the car for rally, and BMW Motorsports is building a turbocharged 1.6-liter engine it will need for limited 2011 competition. Mini will contest the full 2012 WRC season.
More photos after the jump, plus unveil video of the Scooter E for those who care deeply about electric scooters.
Lotus wasn't kidding when it said it wanted to join the ranks of the premium players in the supercar world. Meet the 2013 Lotus Esprit.
"The Esprit is the ultimate supercar. In the past when people thought of the Esprit, they thought of the movies -- Bond, Pretty Woman, Basic Instinct -- but this time around, the car is the star of the show," said Lotus CEO Danny Bahar.
Nice, but isn't an R8 right around $127,700? Let's hope Lotus has truly kicked up the quality and workmanship here. We may have to wait 'till 2013 to find out....
