RE: PH Blog: putting the hype into hypercars

[rgw2012]

350Matt said:

I don't know there's lot a cities these days where you aren't allowed to drive into the centre with a high emissions vehicle so this means your Hybrid super car can still used to pop to Harrods and pose up Oxford street wheras your Pagini will not

that not to mention that all these cars still feature a pretty potent petrol engine so you've still got the fire and the fury when you want it

Plus another 400bhp of electric to go with your 500Bhp petrol ( as was CX75) not only that it'll extend the range for when you're pootling through town

Sorry chaps Hybrids are the future ans as ever the Future tech gets wheeled out for the top of the line models before filtering down

so same as it ever was

so I think it shame the CX 75 wasn't built

I agree it is a shame that the CX-75 won't get built - however I don't believe the Prius and Leaf would be considered Honda and Nissan's top of the line models, filtering their technology to those below! They are developing the technology for the mass market - where it needs to be to have the most impact.

It gets put into the top of the line models so that those who can afford it claim the exclusivity of having it and help fund the R&D budgets for the companies to develop their alternative technology strategies by buying into those vehicles.

Whilst there are restrictions in cities on emissions, you are not prevented from entering those places, you just have to pay a heavy charge for being able to do so - not something that will bother those who can afford Pagani's and the like.

[Guvernator]

benzpassion said:

Guvernator said:

So the buyer of these cars is someone who has just built his 20th oil\gas factory (tearing down an orphanage in the process) who thinks nothing of dropping £1m on a car but who will then be worried about mpg, running costs, road tax or suddenly have an attack of conscience that their £1m TOY is somehow harming the planet.....riiigghhhhtt!

- remember the Hollywood Gliterati falling over themselves to be seen in/acquiring pious 'Green' Priuses?

The world's elite have to sell the AGW lie to the Plebs. What better way than build contrivances only the elites can afford whilst "saving the world" from the mortal danger of, er, CO2. Parky again today.

I suppose you have a point but the whole point of the Prius is that it looks like a green sh*tbox and people instantly recognise it as that hybrid car that is going to save the planet. I'm not sure the man on the street will even recognise an Enzo 2 or 918 as a green car, all they'll see is another flash rich git in an expensive sportscar so as a badge for celebs to show off their green credentials, it fails.

Besides the £1m price tag negates any green kudos by the fact that it is a blatantly materialistic product, think of how many trees\orphans\whales could be saved if that £1m was given to charity instead. A hypercar fails as a green PR machine before it's even left the garage so again I really don't see the point.

[wotnot]

Guvernator said:

A hypercar fails as a green PR machine before it's even left the garage so again I really don't see the point.

That's because it isn't a green PR machine it's a technological tour de force. Buyers want them because they use absolute cutting edge technology that isn't replacing the internal combustion engine it's augmenting it.
These are hybrids which will still make amazing noises and, let's be honest, how many hypercar buyers need to trade in their old model against a shiny new one anyway?

[anonymous-user]

wotnot said:

Guvernator said:

A hypercar fails as a green PR machine before it's even left the garage so again I really don't see the point.

That's because it isn't a green PR machine it's a technological tour de force. Buyers want them because they use absolute cutting edge technology that isn't replacing the internal combustion engine it's augmenting it.
These are hybrids which will still make amazing noises and, let's be honest, how many hypercar buyers need to trade in their old model against a shiny new one anyway?

^^^ Correct imo. Once you have driven one of these new hyper-hybrids, any normal common or garden supercar suddenly feels very 1 dimensional, trust me on that! The extra capability and augmentation of the traditional powertrain really does add an extra layer of performance into these new cars.

[jazzyjeff]

Guvernator said:

Besides the £1m price tag negates any green kudos by the fact that it is a blatantly materialistic product, think of how many trees\orphans\whales could be saved if that £1m was given to charity instead.

I don't see the logic in that argument. If you buy into the 'green' idea (is any car green?) JLR gets the £1m and gets to use it to make more hybrid cars that are supposedly better for the environment (and might even themselves gift to the whale charity at the same time). You're also assuming that the multi-millionaires who buy these vehicles aren't already making six figure charity donations...

[jazzyjeff]

Macboy said:

Those inside JLR and Williams F1 know this was very much a real project I'm sure.

This.

[robinessex]

There must be a PH'er who's got the inside track on this. Come on, expose yourself and tell all.

[585bhp]

Cant....

[V8 GRF]

Al 450 said:

Micro gas turbines? 28g/km and 0-60 in 3.4 secs, really?

Yes, entirely possible. http://www.bladonjets.com/

They went an awful long way in packaging and developing this to claim it was never going to be a production car even to the point of Tata investing in Bladonjets.

[585bhp]

V8 GRF said:

Al 450 said:

Micro gas turbines? 28g/km and 0-60 in 3.4 secs, really?

Yes, entirely possible. http://www.bladonjets.com/

They went an awful long way in packaging and developing this to claim it was never going to be a production car even to the point of Tata investing in Bladonjets.

Never did... never even saw one

[Gecko1978]

I think Jag made the right choice purely from an economic perspective I am assuming the limited production run would not yeeild a profit and as such it was not worth the bother. The RS versions they are putting out serve as great halo models so why compete with the likes of Porsche and Ferrari when odds are the customer bases are different anyway.

My guess is if your well off or even super rich you might have a Porsche 4x4 and a 911 or 3 and a Panamera etc but equally you might have a few Ferraris or a brace of hyper cars. In essence because you can you will buy anything which has numbers with lots of 0's after it and big BHP MPH numbers. So Porsche and Ferrari can sell you a hyper car and others in there range but with Jag you'd buy the CX but then would you buy an XK when you can have an Aston or an XJ when you can have a Rolls etc.

Good call on Jags part they scrap the idea we still read all about it an then we who were never able to by a CX by an XF instead :-)

PS anyone know given current hot hatches make 350+ bhp how costly / difficult it would be for jag to make a mini version of the XJ200 say 180mph top end but looked like the origonal surely this would be better seller?

[monthefish]

Chris Harris said:

the remainder of the range was using Zimmer frames

Was it?

With the exception of the F-Type, the range now is the same as it was then, and you can't say the current XJ and XF are 'using zimmer frames'.

[Andy ap]

585bhp said:

V8 GRF said:

Al 450 said:

Micro gas turbines? 28g/km and 0-60 in 3.4 secs, really?

Yes, entirely possible. http://www.bladonjets.com/

They went an awful long way in packaging and developing this to claim it was never going to be a production car even to the point of Tata investing in Bladonjets.

Never did... never even saw one

Gas turbines have been used for years to provide electrical power, there's nothing new about this tech now matter how small the engine. gas turbines power everything from ships, to hospitals, Oil rigs, factories, the M1A1 tank the list goes on. Implementing this into a car is only a matter of time be it not jaguar then someone else will. Gas turbines are more efficient than the internal combustion engine's for example the grob strato 2c IIRC research aircraft actually uses a combined turbo charged engine with a gas turbine for use at very high altitudes. I don't think jaguar were wrong to cancel this project but it did seem like a feasible method of power. i for one don't like the battery powered move but would love to say my car has a jet engine. There must be a market for this car and so i reckon someone else will certainly pick up where they left off.

Edited by Andy ap on Wednesday 12th December 15:01

[FWDRacer]

monthefish said:

Chris Harris said:

the remainder of the range was using Zimmer frames

Was it?

With the exception of the F-Type, the range now is the same as it was then, and you can't say the current XJ and XF are 'using zimmer frames'.

Not even 3rd rate motoring hack journalism I'm afraid. My 7 year old writes with more eloquency than CH.

[MrKipling43]

benzpassion said:

The article reads remarkably like the same "Operation Damage Limitation from C-X75 cancellation" piece from Mr Steve Davies of Skiddmark.com

You may be killed soon by a furious man in a 599. Consider yourself warned.

Also, the idea that the buyers of cars like this felt the recession in a way that would stop them buying cars like this is hilarious. Wealth simply isn't the same as it was in 1994.

[David1976]

Of this current generation of discussed Hypercar's I can only see the Ferrari being successful.

Turbo's in a Hypercar just reduce the drama. The lack of an exotic noise is frankly inexcusable given the absurdity of money required to enter this rare club.

Some may sell initially, but I stand by my reckoning that the Ferarri will be the only one in years to come to retain or increase in value.

[Garlick]

monthefish said:

Chris Harris said:

the remainder of the range was using Zimmer frames

Was it?

With the exception of the F-Type, the range now is the same as it was then, and you can't say the current XJ and XF are 'using zimmer frames'.

In terms of something to launch with a fanfare at a global motorshow they were. When every other manufacturer is launching new kit, Jag can't rely on existing models to make a splash, they need to 'wow' like the rest and hence this concept was revealed.

In terms of motorshow presence the XJ and XF had been seen, reviewed and people wouldn't notice...as good a road car as they undoubtedly are.

[JonnyVTEC]

Shouldn't this story be renamed?

Putting the hyperbole into a hypercar?

[xxxscimitarxxx]

cant work out the styling tho.....there it is....for all the world looking like a mid/rear piston engined car with all the accoutrements of 'air intake for a radiator'

Unlike most deigners who start at the front pretty well and get a bit lost when they reach the arse end....these guys appear to have done the reverse.....loveley arse and a face like a frog....reminds me of some women ive known but...

what the hell was that bloodey great rad grill on the front for....permanent air brake

meaning.....car was OK....not amazing....and could be described as stupid

Edited by xxxscimitarxxx on Wednesday 12th December 17:18

[DavidTillyer]

From what I am lead to believe from a 'source' is that the drivetrain was being developed quite intensively by JLR and therefore we may yet see some of the C-X75 make production. Even if it isn't in the same seductive clothing we saw on the concept.

Shame it's not being being built but like Chris said, I'm not surprised its not. That being said I do think CH was slightly off the mark by saying that they never were intending to build it.