The Jaguar E-TYPE was known for many things in its time, performance, classical beauty, and the perfect distillation of a brand’s ethos among them. Some of the customers served by Jaguar Peabody look back fondly on the car, even if the one thing it wasn’t known for was fuel efficiency… until now, that is. When Jaguar Land Rover announced a major expansion of electric vehicles (EVs) by 2020, it was a classic Jaguar E-TYPE that showcased what the company was capable of.
There are other new Jaguar vehicles in the pipeline that would have been suitable, including the upcoming Jaguar I-PACE and Jaguar E-PACE crossovers. Instead, they went back nearly half a century to a car that came with a straight-six engine and went through fuel as though it was going out of style. True to their heritage, though, the Jaguar team — specifically, the engineers at the Jaguar Land Rover Classic Works in Coventry, UK — found an elegant solution.
A new powertrain was designed that configured a battery pack and electric motor in the perfect shape and size to fit where the previous engine had gone. That means that if they want to, they can just as easily change the all-electric powertrain back to the petrol powerplant found on the original Series 1.5 roadster.
So the fact that each Jaguar vehicle built from 2020 forward will be either all-electric or have an EV counterpart (as we expect with the Jaguar F-PACE and Jaguar XE) is interesting, but what’s even more interesting is that if they wanted to, the company could easily — if somewhat expensively — outfit even their classics with electric powertrains. If you own a classic Jaguar car, the day could be coming when you could electrify it for driving the streets.
The Jaguar E-TYPE paved the way for the modern Jaguar lineup. Your Jaguar dealership near Nashua, NH has more classics-in-waiting, and there are more yet to come. Visit Jaguar Peabody at 247 Newbury St to find out more.
