Frankfurt 2013: Jaguar C-X17 Concept
Jag gets into the sport truck business with production-ready concept
By Imthishan Giado
Jaguar, purveyor of gentlemanly English coupes and saloons for more than 90 years, has finally bowed to market pressures and delivered its first SUV. The C-X17 Concept is officially a ‘Sport Crossover Concept’ but we all know that it’s a dead-cert for production, likely bearing the name XQ.
Styling wise, it’s a jacked-up Jaguar XF wagon, with huge gaping air intakes, point-style LED lights and a slightly enlarged version of the shield Jag grille. No word on powertrain or platforms, but considering that it’s aimed at the Evoque market, expect version of the turbo four found in most Jags and a supercharged V6 for the top end version.
[UPDATE from Frankfurt by Shahzad Sheikh]
The studio shots don’t do this thing justice. Many have compared it to a Mazda, but seeing it in the metal, believe me, it looks nothing like the swoopy Japanese cars.
It has a lot of presence and style, and whilst this is still just a concept, I reckon if they put it into production it would easily sell loads in the Middle East.
The platform is not Land Rover sourced as we expected, but actually an all-new aluminium monocoque architecture that will form the basis of a new small saloon coming in 2015 from Jaguar, and actually before any SUV.
No details on drivetrain, but there’s a suggestion that it could have the V6 from the F-Type and would feature Torque-Vectoring for its high-speed handling.
This is definitely meant to be a sporting SUV and it sits on gigantic 23-inch alloys. Inside there are four bucket seats.
I’m still not sure why Jaguar needs its own SUV when it’s sistered with Land Rover, but if it has to have one, this isn’t a bad proposition at all.
