Monday 4th March 2019

Jaguar I-Pace wins European Car of the Year

Jag's EV joins an illustrious list in being crowned Europe's best car - and beats out the Alpine A110 in the process

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Goodness knows Jaguar needs a bit of good news at present; well today, on the eve of the Geneva show, it has some, the I-Pace being crowned European Car of the Year.

It won by an extremely narrow margin. Tied on 250 points with the Alpine A110 - yes, it really is that good, in case you hadn't heard - the final result came down to how many of the judges placed the Jaguar first ahead of the Alpine. With 18 first places for the I-Pace and 16 for the A110, victory could hardly have been closer - it's the first time in the competition's history that there's ever been a tie.

Furthermore, it's the first time an Alpine has ever been in contention for the award, and only the third time for Jaguar: the XE was fifth in 2016 and, before that, the X-Type finished seventh in the 2002 contest. It was behind cars such as the Citroen C5, Fiat Stilo and Peugeot 307. See, it wasn't always better in the old days...

Ian Callum collected the I-Pace's award, describing it as a "wonderful car for the team to design and work on, because it's a new car on a unique platform. For me, after 40 years in the business, this is the most exciting new car I've ever had the chance to work on."

Things weren't just close at the top, with results remaining a close-run thing throughout. The Kia Ceed finished in third place with 247 points, and the Ford Focus was on 235. Really, though, this is about Jaguar's success in creating something genuinely revolutionary for the sector, and something to shout about for Britain as well; while there was a win for the Vauxhall Ampera in 2012, for a British manufacturer to claim victory with a project entirely of its own you need to look back to 1977, and the Rover SD1.

So well done Jaguar, and well done Alpine as well; both have shown that alternative thinking, executed well, can grab the attention and awards. If recognition like this means more lightweight, driver focussed sports cars and well resolved, desirable EVs, then count us in!

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[Roy m]

Given I can't buy a Volvo now (speed limiting) I may have a look at one of these. If it had a greater range it would be a no brainer!

[Roy m]

Sorry but not the point - I won't be dictated to by a Nanny car maker - governments are bad enough but I'm stuck with them. I can choose not to spend money with a car maker.

[Roy m]

SOL111 said:

But they are dictating to you lol

Jag could make it go faster but are limiting it to 124mph in the same way my i3s is limited to 100mph.

And don't get me started on ze Germans, who limit their cars to 157 or something

bds

But the issue here is that Jaguar are in essence saying ' if you want this model these are the operating parameters it works within, if they don't suit you then choose another model'.

Whereas Volvo are saying ' we know better than our customers so we're setting an arbitrary maximum speed no matter which model you choose' or even worse ' we can't design what we need to meet customer requirements so we'll enforce limits on our customers but lie to them about why we've done it!'

And don't get me started about the notion that the electricity to power electric cars
mysteriously appears from nowhere and if we all drove them there would be no emissions!

And the CLS isn't speed limited - it's just not very fast!!

Edited by Roy m on Monday 4th March 19:54

Edited by Roy m on Monday 4th March 19:58

[Roy m]

dvs_dave said:

.

However, do you not realise that electrical energy is produced far more cleanly and efficiently than burning fuel in an automotive ICE?

Actually a good proportion of t isn't but I won't spoil your nice soundbte with actual facts

[Roy m]

dvs_dave said:

Is that so? Would you care to elaborate and share some of the facts you supposedly have to the contrary?

"Research conducted by the Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Centre in Brussels found that an EV that uses electricity from non-renewable sources will emit slightly more emissions over its lifetime than a diesel car, but less than a petrol car." And that doesn't include the mining and extraction issues around Cobalt and Lithium. A combination of inaccessibility and political instability in areas where they are located has both an energy and a human cost. As technology moves on then the balance will swing inevitably towards renewable sources and improved battery technology which will swing this to the electric car. It does make you wonder why diesel is so vilified - a convenient scapegoat or just an easy target?

[Roy m]

dvs_dave said:

How deliciously ironic. An EV naysayer deliberately misrepresenting a source by taking quotes out of context to support his own misguided agenda.
Classic!

The quote I used was taken directly from the report which I quoted exactly. The points made above in response are correct but also taken in a different context. For example "The result is that between July and September, the capacity of wind, solar, biomass and hydropower reached 41.9 gigawatts, exceeding the 41.2GW capacity of coal, gas and oil-fired power plants." Illustrates that the current renewable measures have mostly been during summer months. Recent months have shown an increased use of coal IN THE UK due to increases in the price of gas (although this is relatively small) which will lead to a pollution increase.

If you had actually read my posts you would see that I started by saying that I was considering the I pace so hardly an 'EV naysayer'.

In my 25 years in Academia I had many occasions where I had to persuade students to leave their own prejudices and present the facts which arise from their research. I'm retired now so will leave you to your ill informed prejudices and go back to burning fossil fuels.