Jaguar’s first SUV aims at Porsche Macan
Luxurious 2017 F-PACE geared toward millennial women, young families
FRANKFURT, GERMANY— It’s not often you get to see a world record being made and it’s once in a lifetime that the record will involve every gearhead’s childhood Hot Wheels fantasy of driving a loop-the-loop.
But that’s what Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) served up to select guests on the eve of the Frankfurt auto show.
The reveal of the brand new 2017 F-PACE luxury medium SUV had the car driven in the biggest power loop ever at 19.08 metres tall. Stunt driver Terry Grant had his hands full, literally, with a special manual throttle designed to ensure he maintained control throughout the loop, in which he experienced 6.5 Gs, more than a space shuttle pilot.
It was a spectacular show, demonstrating just how much confidence JLR has in its newest vehicle.
That this car is a Jaguar, not a Land Rover, is a departure for the company. In its 80-year history, this is Jaguar’s first foray into the SUV segment, and it’s aimed straight at the Porsche Macan.
In fact, Jaguar Land Rover North America president Joe Eberhardt, acknowledged in an interview that Porsche’s great success in converting itself from a troubled sports carmak- er into a mainstream luxury brand through the introduction of the Cayenne was a lesson learned. “It helped support the belief that we can do something similar with the Jaguar brand,” he said.
So, the brief given to the design team was to make an SUV that was unmistakably a Jaguar.
The idea was to transplant the soul of the F-type driver’s car into a fiveseater family vehicle.
From the looks of the F-Pace, they have done an admirable job. It’s a sleek number, not overwrought, with sports-car styling cues combined with some off-road credibility.
Under the skin there is a mostly aluminum body and, although Jaguar uses common architecture for its cars, 81 per cent of its parts in the F-Pace are not shared.
It’s built to be a sports car, and its engineers repeatedly highlighted the areas in which the car is stiffer, more compliant and longer in the wheelbase than the Porsche Macan.
It brings to bear significant advanced technology, including intelligent all-wheel drive with a rearwheel-drive bias and adaptive driving dynamics that allows the driver to select four pre-sets.
It also configures on the fly, measuring driver behaviour and road conditions to deliver the best driving experience.
At the heart of the F-Pace is a big computer that powers numerous infotainment systems and apps. This is a key ingredient in the marketing plan for the vehicle, which is aimed at a younger — millennial — and a female buyer than a traditional Jaguar.
It’s loaded with clever innovations, such as a waterproof activity key that you wear like a watch and disables the regular key inside the vehicle while you play. To lock or open the car is as simple as tapping the device on the rear hatch logo.
For the young, mobile family, the F-Pace offers not only the tech they are asking for but a capable package with intelligently designed internal stowage, a quiet cabin and up to 1,740 litres of cargo space with the seats folded down.
The F-Pace range will include five models, with a powertrain range consisting of a 180-hp 2.0-litre Ingenium diesel, as well as 340-hp and 380-hp 3.0-litre V6 gas variants priced from $49,900, $53,900 and $66,400 respectively. All will have 8speed automatic transmissions.
The 2017 F-Pace will be available in Canada next spring.
The Land Rover side of the company seemed to be in Frankfurt simply because it had to. With no reveals of launches, the main news was that a convertible version of the Evoque will be available next year, with a likely reveal at the L.A. auto show in November.
But keeping with the theme of stunts, Jaguar Land Rover also celebrated the use of their vehicles in the soon-to-be released James Bond film, Spectre. Cars, including the Jaguar C-X75, Range Rover Sport SVR and the Land Rover Defender, are driven in a chase through the streets of Rome as well as in the mountains of Austria.
The movie will be released in November.
JLR calls the C-X75 the most advanced Jaguar ever created. It was built by Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) in collaboration with development partner Williams Advanced Engineering headquarters in Oxfordshire, England.
The SVO specializes in creating custom cars, high-performance production models and limited-edition models.