Back to business
AFTER TWO issues largely given over to last weekend’s Otago Rally, it is back to business as usual for this Easter edition of Drivesouth.
As promised at the start of the year, we are continuing to give plenty of attention to cars featuring hybrid or pureelectric drivetrains. In this vein, the new Jaguar IPace takes centre stage on this weekend’s cover.
The IPace has completed a historic treble at the 2019 World Car Awards, winning the coveted 2019 World Car of the Year and World Car Design of the Year awards in addition to being named as World Green Car of the Year.
This time a week ago, Jaguar’s Kiwi distributors were taking orders for the IPace at prices ranging from $159,900 to $179,900. Now those prices have been slashed by $15,000 across the range, with customers who have previously prepurchased the vehicle at the old price also benefitting from the reduction.
Normally price reductions are a response to flagging interest, but the opposite is true in this case: higherthanexpected demand has allowed them to secure a sharper price.
Electric Jaguars have also been causing a buzz in motorsport circles, thanks to Kiwi Mitch Evans’ victory in the latest round of the FIA world Formula E championship.
Some may also be surprised to learn that electric and hybrid rally cars were a serious topic of conversation at Otago Rally.
Work on introducing such vehicles to the WRC commenced last year. It is now a virtual certainty that the next major iteration of WRC technical regulations — due to be announced later this year — will make hybrids standard.
Hayden Paddon and Mads Ostberg are adamant the WRC had to move to electric to remain relevant, and both expressed enthusiasm for the likely performance potential of such machines.
Change of a different order is afoot locally this weekend, with Wanaka hosting the inaugural Wheels at Wanaka show. All going well, this will become a biennial event, to give the town an Easter attraction in years when the airshow is not being staged.