Motoring

The Jaguar C-X17 concept going into production would be good news for car enthusiasts, but not because it’s fun to drive…

Jaguar should go ahead and build the C-X17 as it definitely needs the money that a volumeselling product will rake in. We don’t mind as long as it will fund the production of what we want. wheels’ Sony Thomas drives the concept in Dubai

Be extra careful… It’s precious,” was the friendly yet firm instruction from Jaguar’s director of design, Ian Callum, as I walked towards the air-conditioned tent that housed his latest baby, the C-X17 SUV concept. There was no missing the look of the reluctant parent on his face, but it’s only understandable that for someone who has spent a lifetime designing sporty coupés and saloons and laid the foundations for modern-day Aston Martins and Jaguars, creating an SUV would have been a huge shift.

However, Callum seems to be resigned to the fact that this is what the world wants and that this segment is going to be an integral part of Jaguar’s future.

Callum isn’t alone in his love for sportscars and supercars. But the sheer amount of money that’s required for research and development before one of these vehicles is put into production is mindboggling. That’s where moneyspinners such as SUVs and mid-size saloons come into the picture.

The world wouldn’t have had a 918 Spyder today if Porsche hadn’t gone against the multitude of clamouring purists to make the Cayenne. Even the most optimistic of Porsche executives couldn’t have foreseen the phenomenal success that the SUV eventually proved to be. This prompted almost all major premium carmakers including BMWand Audi to jump on the bandwagon and taste similar success. Even unlikely brands such as Maserati and Bentley sensed the huge monetary potential and tested the waters with SUV concepts.

And now, after resisting the temptation all these years, Jaguar has decided it’s time to cash in on this prodigiously expanding segment. In an earlier chat, Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, insisted the C-X17 is just a concept, while at the same time conceding that the market potential is huge. “The C-X17 is a concept car for a very small crossover, and at the moment it’s just that, a concept,” he said. “But the market predictions are very positive.” Like Porsche, the potential success of its SUV might be just what Jaguar needs to resurrect shelved supercar projects such as the C-X75.

Speth himself admitted that it’s the limitation of being a small company that’s holding Jaguar back from producing a halo supercar. “All concepts cannot be built, although as an engineer myself I’d like to build every concept car that we have. But, being a small company, we can only do things within our limits and cannot deliver everything.” Is the C-X17 good enough to shoulder the huge responsibility of heralding a change in direction for this storied British marque?

After a delay of 15 minutes (being a prototype, it needs to cool down after every 20-minute drive) I was told it was ready. Expecting a Cesium Blue stunner to emerge as the minders unfastened the gazebo’s entrance, I must admit I was a bit disappointed to see a rather dull silver prototype instead. But that initial disillusionment quickly faded as I walked around the car a couple of times. Silver or not, this crossover is a definite design triumph for Callum and his team. Pictures really don’t do justice to the concept’s looks and presence.

At 4,718mm long, 1,959mm wide and 1,649mm high, the C-X17 looks bigger than it appears in photographs. And with design inspiration taken from almost all of Jaguar’s current vehicle range,

a mix of leather, ruthenium (a cousin of platinum), milled aluminium and black brushed anodised metal finishes.

But how does it drive? Well, the concept I got to drive has barely any functional parts inside except a spongy brake pedal, a heavy accelerator pedal and a rod that sticks up from the centre armrest that I was told was the gear lever.

Yes, there’s a rotary dial, finished in ruthenium, which is supposed to rise up and give you the customary Jaguar “handshake”, but that isn’t functional in this prototype. The engine, the same supercharged V6 that powers the F-Type, is much louder here, obviously due to non-existent sound dampening. However, I’m not allowed to rev the engine beyond a point and get to spend about 15 minutes behind the wheel before the C-X17 goes back into its air-conditioned tent.

Naturally, there’s very little to gauge about how it drives from such a brief stint behind the wheel. However, despite the harsh ride and the overall lack of finesse that’s normal in a prototype, you cannot but help notice the low, sportscar-like seating position that is uncharacteristic of SUVs. If these attributes are translated undiluted into the production version, the Germans will have a formidable foe to take on.

To get a more realistic idea, I asked Graham Wilkins, vehicle engineering manager in charge of the new intelligent aluminium architecture and the new premium mid-size saloon, to tell me what he thinks a production Jaguar SUV should drive like. “It should show the same characteristics as any Jaguar, from an F-Type to an XF or an XJ,” he said, without batting an eyelid. “It should be ‘alive’, it should be engaging, rewarding and dual in its nature. So it should be capable of smooth, refined driving when it’s needed and at the same time be fun and engaging.”

He also believes that the exceptional design and the driving experience would set the car apart from its main competitors.

The final production version will no doubt live up to these expectations as it will be underpinned by Jaguar’s much-hyped modular and scalable aluminium architecture that, according to the carmaker, will be less restricted by technical or manufacturing constraints across a number of different segments.

“This architecture is capable of many things,” adds Wilkins. “We were looking into the future when Jaguar might want to enter a number of new segments with new products.

“We wanted an architecture that would be able to respond to these demands as quickly as possible. This was the main business driver behind the architecture.”

It will also allow Jaguar to easily handle higher-volume production of its newly announced 3 Series rival and the C-X17 once it has been green-lighted. That, in turn, means the bean counters at Coventry will loosen their purse strings to help such magnificent concepts as the C-X75 see the light of day. If that’s the case, it doesn’t really matter how this crossover will handle, as the money it brings in will go a long way in making the world a better place – at least for car enthusiasts.