Thursday 3rd March 2011

Bertone B99 Gets Fast And Furious Treatment

Bewinged 'little cat' project makes us paws for thought

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There's a train of thought, we know, that Bertone's B99 take on the baby Jagconcept is a team effort between the famous Italian styling house and Jaguar. But all we got from senior Jag execs who saw it at the Geneva show was a sense of polite bewilderment.

Causing particular amusement and/or concern (we weren't quite sure which!) was this fantastically over-appendaged 'GT racing' version.

Here's an edited excerpt from the press release:

"The carryover components of the original sedan (front doors, greenhouse, hood and trunk) are very obvious but the 2.5 meter wide body leaves no doubt, the race version is just as wild as every Jaguar in the jungle, ready to eat the competition alive.

"Now the Jaguar racing dynasty has a new member, the B 99 GT."

Well sorry chaps, but perhaps it doesn't...

The 'regular' B99 is a little more plausible than the racer, we thought, and has some attractive angles as PHers have already pointed out following our pre-show story. However the rear doors appeared to be on the small side, so perhaps it wouldn't be very practical as a production saloon. It might have formed the basis of a nice Jaguar coupe in the early 1990s, though.

That said, as a nod to modernity, the B99 has been conceived with a hybrid 'range-extender' system that uses a 170hp engine, lithium ion batteries and twin in-board electric motors on the rear axle for propulsion.

The press release has got a bit of guff about the B99 'looking poised and ready to pounce', but this is by far the best bit:

"An old Jaguar slogan was: "Grace, Space, & Pace". Bertone research for the B99 concept could be summed up in: "Cunning Glamour with Race-Bred Innovation."

Not a line we expect to see featured soon on a double page ad in the Sunday papers...

[anonymous-user]

That spoiler would stop a 747 from taking off.

[FWDRacer]

what a load of Italian styled $hit.

Jags creative direction doesn't need an Bertone input at all - currently it's forward looking - right where William Lyons would have wanted it to be. Bertone - They've all been on the Charlie Sheen

[Peeved]

And just like that, any residual cool is undone. A lesson in "Quit while you're ahead".

I rather liked the B99, although I agree with another member on here (can't remember the name, sorry) who said it looks like a Challenger in profile.

Perhaps we'll see an XFR in NASCAR soon!

[cookie1600]

Motor shows and headlines - 'nuff said?

[Mini1275]

That diffuser .

[GingerWizard]

After seeing that i'm eyeing up the ironing board.........

[Corsair7]

Bertone engineers creating super hi-tech racing body kit for the new Jag B99 GT.....

[Great Pretender]

What. The. fk.

[ZOLLAR]

Somebody followed the signs in the picture correctly as they have left a pile of st in the right place..

[LuS1fer]

They seem to have confused the words Bertone and Baldrick who has clearly had a cunning plan.

[Baryonyx]

Thats awful. Bertone aren't exactly the best styling house, aside from the Mantide I'm struggling to think what else they've done of note. Those Astra coupes are a load of crap.

[jake15919]

As much as I like the B99 I think that ad line should read

"Cunning Glamour with Race-Bred Innovation and the dashboard from an 80s Metro."

[Hendry]

The B99 is a bit like finding a picture of you from school and trying to draw a Justin Bieber flop onto it to make you look current. Might appeal to teenagers and you can appreciate it would have made you look better at the time, but you prefer how you look now.

[galro]

Baryonyx said:

Thats awful. Bertone aren't exactly the best styling house, aside from the Mantide I'm struggling to think what else they've done of note. Those Astra coupes are a load of crap.

Alfa Romeos different Bat cars, 105 coupe, Montreal, Lamborghini Miura, Countach, Lancia Stratos, Iso Grifo, Gordon Keeble, Mserati Khamsin etc.
But they haven't had much success recently like most italian coachbuilders.

[WCZ]

looks nice, could do with lowering springs though

[BMWill]

I really hope this gets a green light. It looks like a proper saloon. These days the slant on the back of saloons is becoming such, that I'm struggling to draw the line between fastback / hatchbacks and full blown saloons (current Jag 'saloon' line up included).
Just need to sort those tail lights, rear doors, and that ridiculous 'wood' theme they have going on currently at jaguar. Absolutely hideous. Looks like a Paul Smith design - a cheaper one.


= )

[Some Gump]

Bertone surely have misinterpreted Jag's heritage here? Ok, it's got plastic-y wood inside, but in the wrong context and every other thing is just plain wrong...

[LukeBird]

What?! Utterly horrible!

[turbo-ww]

Here's an edited excerpt from the press release:

"The carryover components of the original sedan (front doors, greenhouse, hood and trunk) are very obvious but the 2.5 meter wide body leaves no doubt, the race version is just as wild as every Jaguar in the jungle, ready to eat the competition alive.

"Now the Jaguar racing dynasty has a new member, the B 99 GT."


Aimed at the American market maybe.....

[Beyond Rational]

Jaguar seem to have left historical pastiche behind. This would be a very bad move.