Jaguar i-PACE Electric SUV will debut at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show

Jaguar i-PACE Geneva 2018 Debut

The new Jaguar i-PACE – Jaguar’s first electric car – will debut in production guise at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, and go straight on sale in the UK.

Yesterday we reported on the final testing of the new Jaguar i-Pace as Jaguar work to sign-off their first electric car for production by running production prototypes for 1.5 million miles.

Jaguar were also busy flaunting the i-Pace’s range and dynamism to potential California buyers as they look to steal the thunder of the Tesla Model X, and on all the available evidence that’s exactly what the i-Pace looks set to do.

Jaguar are yet to confirm the i-Pace’s production specs, but we can’t see it very likely they will be any less impressive than the concept car – and that’s pretty impressive.

With a range of 310 miles and a 0-60mph of under 4.0 seconds, the i-Pace looks to be as practical as the Model X, its 90kWh battery pack is almost as big as Tesla’s most expensive option and, say Jaguar, will charge to 80 per cent in the time it takes to stop for a coffee.

The lithium ion battery pack and electric motors are Jaguar’s own design, the suspension is borrowed, to some degree, from the F-Pace but tweaked to suit the i-Pace, there’s regenerative braking and the ability to ‘E-Pedal’ drive, permanent four-wheel drive with torque vectoring and air suspension (well, probably as an option).

What the i-Pace looks set to offer is what the Model X can’t – a properly dynamic electric SUV with heritage and dynamism and, we hope, much better build quality.

That quality will be vital, but with production of the i-Pace in the hands of Magna Steyr that’s unlikely to be an issue, and Magna are already building the i-Pace. So no Telsa-like production hold-ups there, although demand for the i-Pace will almost certainly exceed supply.

The production version of the Jaguar i-Pace will debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2018 and go on sale straight away. First customer cars are expected in the UK by the summer.

Look out Tesla – the Cat’s about to escape in to the wild.