Photo: Guido ten Brink/SB-Medien
After launching the I-PACE electric SUV earlier this month at the Geneva Motor Show (though we felt like the car's been with us for ages after the very similar concept that previewed it and numerous sightings of the very slim camouflaged test cars), it seems as though Jaguar hasn't let the foot off the pedal.
Sticking to the "beat the iron while it's hot" idiom, the British manufacturer is already thinking of ways to make its sole EV (for now) more appealing to a broader range of customers. And handing it over to its Special Vehicle Operations division (SVO) seems like a decent idea.
According to SVO chief John Edwards, the company believes the EV segment is still malleable enough, especially when it comes to performance vehicles. Sure, Tesla might have something to say about that, but the fact is the California-made battery-powered cars are a one-trick pony. They do crazy straight line acceleration runs, and that's it - and yet there's much more to performance driving than that.
Edwards was speaking to Australian journalists when he referred to the new possibilities opened up by this fairly young segment. “The rules of performance vehicles in a traditional market are very established and we react to those established rules,” he told Motoring. “With electric vehicles, the rules aren’t established at all, so I think it gives us different opportunities.”
However, the division ran by Edwards deals more with luxury upgrades than significant increases in performance, which is why an SVR-badged I-PACE would be a much more interesting proposition, considering how that acronym stands for Special Vehicle Racing.
Just as it happens, Jaguar has the foundation stone already laid with the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY racing competition, which exclusively features modified versions of the road-going crossover. Granted, those modifications mostly consist of stripping it down and adding a roll cage, but some tweaks must have been made to the powertrain as well.
John Edwards did not openly admit the company is cooking an I-PACE SVR, but when asked about it he smiled and simply said "possibly." We all know how tight-lipped big car companies can be, but when an official can't contain his giddiness at the thought of a vehicle they know is coming, that grin is usually what it looks like on the outside.
According to SVO chief John Edwards, the company believes the EV segment is still malleable enough, especially when it comes to performance vehicles. Sure, Tesla might have something to say about that, but the fact is the California-made battery-powered cars are a one-trick pony. They do crazy straight line acceleration runs, and that's it - and yet there's much more to performance driving than that.
Edwards was speaking to Australian journalists when he referred to the new possibilities opened up by this fairly young segment. “The rules of performance vehicles in a traditional market are very established and we react to those established rules,” he told Motoring. “With electric vehicles, the rules aren’t established at all, so I think it gives us different opportunities.”
However, the division ran by Edwards deals more with luxury upgrades than significant increases in performance, which is why an SVR-badged I-PACE would be a much more interesting proposition, considering how that acronym stands for Special Vehicle Racing.
Just as it happens, Jaguar has the foundation stone already laid with the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY racing competition, which exclusively features modified versions of the road-going crossover. Granted, those modifications mostly consist of stripping it down and adding a roll cage, but some tweaks must have been made to the powertrain as well.
John Edwards did not openly admit the company is cooking an I-PACE SVR, but when asked about it he smiled and simply said "possibly." We all know how tight-lipped big car companies can be, but when an official can't contain his giddiness at the thought of a vehicle they know is coming, that grin is usually what it looks like on the outside.
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