Jaguar C-X75 Hybrid Supercar: More details revealed

Jaguar has revealed their C-X75 Hybrid Supercar will get a 500bhp 1.6 litre engine and just 200 will be built. On sale 2014.

It’s almost two years since the Jaguar C-X75 hybrid hypercar was revealed with a futuristic wish-list of a gas-turbine powered hybrid car to mark Jaguar’s 21st century renaissance.

Despite Jaguar’s hopes that micro turbines would be production possible, both the positive reaction to the C-X75 and the acceptance that a micro turbine wouldn’t work in a production car – at least not yet – has led Jaguar up a more conventional hybrid route for their hybrid hypercar.

That route was to drop the turbines and two of the electric motors and rope Williams F1 in to help develop a C-X75 which could offer strong ‘Green’ credentials and stunning performance.

As we revealed back in March, Jaguar are getting close to having a prototype C-X75 ready to roll on the road, and with that now imminent Jaguar has shared a little more about the technology now underpinning the C-X75.

The C-X75 now has two axial-flux electric motors – one on the front axle, one on the rear – which have three times the power density of a conventional motor (in a axial-flux motor the magnetic flux runs parallel instead of radially which means more power from less size) which are supplemented by a 1.6 litre supercharged and turbocharged four-cylinder engine which runs to 10,000 rpm and delivers 500bhp.

The engine is a twin cam, dry-sump aluminium unit with direct and port injection and a belt driven supercharger plus a single turbo. The supercharger works from the start and at around 5,000rpm the single turbo takes over to push a linear delivery of power right up to to 10,000 rpm.

All this engine technology will be housed in a Jaguar that is made from carbon fibre with just additional aluminium crash structures front an rear. Jaguar have given no indication of overall weight, although they do say the two liquid-cooled battery packs weigh in at 200kg (and can power the C-X75 from a plug-in charge for almost 40 miles).

We can only guess that the C-X75 will have power at its disposal of over 800bhp, but despite not giving us a total power output Jaguar are confident the C-X75 will take less than 3 seconds to 62mph and come with official economy figures good enough to dip below 100g/km.

The Jaguar C-X75 will be hitting the roads soon as a prototype with Jaguar aiming to launch it in 2014. Just 200 will be built and each will cost at least £800k.

And now we’re likely to start seeing spy shots of the C-X75 as Jaguar work it on the road – and we know the C-X75 will make production – we can all start guessing what name Jaguar are going to give their Hybrid Supercar.

Jaguar XJ75, perhaps?