“The C-X75 is absolutely at the forefront of technology, it’s as good as you can get right now,” Tata Chief Executive Officer Carl-Peter Forster said today at a press conference in London. “For me it’s also proof that the automobile is not the technology of the last century. It has a future.”
The hybrid model, which combines two electric motors with a gasoline engine, will have a top speed higher than 200 mph and a range of more than 50 kilometers (31 miles) using only electric power, U.K.-based Jaguar Land Rover said today in a statement.
Jaguar follows Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), Volkswagen AG (VOW)’s Audi and Porsche SE in announcing plans for electric-powered supercars. Sports car-makers are developing vehicles using alternative forms of energy to lower their overall carbon footprints as governments press them to adopt green technology.
The C-X75, first shown off as a concept car at last year’s Paris Motor Show, will be developed with the British Formula 1 racing team Williams and offer performance on par with the fastest production models currently available, Jaguar brand chief Adrian Hallmark said at today’s press event.
U.S. Distribution
Only 250 C-X75s will initially be built, with production running from 2013 through 2015. Expressions of interest will be taken from prospective buyers starting today, with full technical details to be released on Sept. 1, Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth said at the briefing.
The vehicle, which could cost as much as 900,000 pounds depending on local taxes, will have “incredibly low” carbon dioxide emissions of less than 99 grams per kilometer, he said.
Some C-X75s will be made available for purchase in the U.S., Forster said, and it’s possible that the model may be entered in races to help demonstrate its abilities.
BMW, the largest maker of luxury autos, is also building a hybrid supercar, the i8, which will go on sale in 2013, the Munich-based manufacturer said Nov. 5. Emissions will be the same as for the Jaguar and equal to just 30 percent of the company’s $100,000 M6 coupe, which has a similar acceleration.
Porsche plans to produce a 918 Spyder hybrid sports car, the Stuttgart-based automaker, which is combining with Volkswagen, has said, without specifying when the model will go on sale or what the price will be.
VW’s Audi unit is building an all-electric supercar called the E-tron based on the RB model, Josef Schlossmacher, a spokesman for the Ingolstadt, Germany-based company said by phone. It should be on the road within 18 months, he said.
Sales Boost
Tata Motors, India’s biggest maker of trucks and buses, paid $2.4 billion to acquire Jaguar and the Land Rover sport- utility vehicle brand from Ford Motor Co. (F) in June 2008. The company will invest 5 billion pounds in the U.K. in coming years, CEO Forster said, without giving a timescale.Sales of Jaguar and Land Rover models have surged as demand for luxury vehicles rebounds from a collapse prompted by the global recession. Mumbai-based Tata said last month that annual vehicle sales for the U.K. business rose 25 percent to 241,573, with Land Rover accounting for 78 percent of the total.
China is the No. 1 growth market for Jaguar Land Rover, Forster said in a Bloomberg TV interview. The U.S., the world’s largest luxury-car market, is “recovering but not doing great.”
The unit last October reached a deal with unions to retain all of its three U.K. plants after mulling a plan to consolidate production to cut costs. The company will this year start selling the new Evoque model, an SUV-coupe crossover vehicle.