Jaguar has just announced it would launch its first-ever all-electric model, the I-PACE crossover in a private event on March 1, just two days before its unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show.
The British company has been very pushy about this model lately, focusing a lot of its communication efforts on advertising the I-PACE and making sure everybody is looking forward to seeing it on the market. But even though the PR and marketing departments were quite busy as well, most of the credit needs to go toward the people involved in the development of the vehicle, because there really isn't much to complain about.
For a first attempt, the I-PACE promises to offer quite competitive figures, especially if you look at what BMW (with the i3) or Mercedes-Benz (with the B-Class) had come up with as their first ever efforts. By comparison, the Jaguar crossover is said to offer a 90 kWh battery pack with a 500 km (311 miles) maximum range (according to NEDC), all-wheel-drive, and sub-four seconds 0-62 mph (100 km/h) acceleration time.
Instead of taking the EV on a drag strip to showcase its might, Jaguar decided to do something even more fun and a lot more in tune with the season most of us are getting through right now. They brought the car to a testing track (well, it's actually a frozen lake covered in snow) in Sweden where Mitch Evans - Panasonic Jaguar Racing Driver - and David Gandy - British model and "friend of Jaguar" - were free to hoon around.
Mitch is the first to take the wheel and, we have to admit, when a Formula E driver says he hasn't tried any other road-going electric cars than the I-PACE, it did make us wonder a little about how important it is for the drivers in the competition that their race cars are battery powered. Of course, they're free to drive whatever they want in their free time, but it would make the entire competition look better if all the people involved were true EV believers.
David Gandy is much less successful in preventing the I-PACE from spinning, but he also delivers a dud. Speaking about the car - presumably out of his vast EV experience - he finishes by declaring that "Jaguar are ahead of everyone [as far as EVs are concerned]." Well, it's easy to imagine why he would think that having just gotten out of the I-PACE, but you can't really give such verdicts without a proper background.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News