LOS ANGELES _ For decades, there has seemed to be an unwritten rule among automakers that electrically powered vehicles have to look like mechanized alien life forms.
This started in the 1970s with such vehicles as Sebring-Vanguard's CitiCar and Comuta-Car and was later reinforced by the 1996 General Motors EV1 and the 1997 Toyota Prius.
This long-cherished notion, one that Toyota still clings to, isn't, however, held by Tesla. Just ask Ian Callum, Jaguar's design director.
"I don't think Tesla would have been as successful had they made the design look very odd or strange," Callum said prior to the opening of the soon-to-conclude Los Angeles Auto Show. "They very cleverly designed a good-looking car. That's part of the basis on what they sell, and it happens to be electric. I think there's the view here. Where you produce a compelling product overall and it happens to be electric, you will sell more of them."
Not that Callum formed that opinion by observing Tesla.
Jaguar, after all, has produced some of the world's most beautiful cars for decades, a tradition Callum has continued with deft skill. And now, Jaguar is proving that your EV doesn't have to possess the design aesthetic of NASA's Lunar Rover.
Come 2018, Jaguar will sell an all-electric SUV dubbed the Jaguar I-Pace.
In an age where nearly every automaker from Ferrari to Ford has some sort of fuel-efficient offering, Jaguar has been among those standing on the sidelines. The I-Pace concept Jaguar revealed at the LA show, however, signals that is about to change. In fact, we could see Jaguar leap to the head of the EV pack.
For those traditionalists who own older Jaguars, though, the brand's new SUV, the F-Pace, must be shocking enough. Now comes its all-electric companion with a form that's clearly Jaguar, even if its form is dramatically different.
The stunner has a cab-forward design that lacks one of Jaguar's long-time hallmarks: a long hood.
"I've had this idea of doing a cab-forward SUV for quite a while because I think that it just breaks up the rule books on something that has fundamentally always had a fairly conservative approach to design," Callum said.
Still, the car does possess the styling cues that distinguish it as a Jaguar, including the brand's distinctive front-end, its graceful sweeping waistline, low overall height, clean and simple surfaces, and haunches over each wheel.
The I-Pace's advanced driveline drove the vehicle's form, which is composed of aluminum and composite panels that cloak an all-new architecture with a Jaguar-designed electric motor on each axle. Powering the pair of electric motors is a 90 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack, which is nestled low between the axles, generating a healthy 400 horsepower and torque equal to that of the Jaguar F-Type SVR sports car: 516 foot-pounds. That translates into a zero to 60 mph time of four seconds, while providing more than 220 miles of range on a single charge. Thankfully, all-wheel drive is standard.
And since none of the driveline is up front, a long hood isn't needed to house it. This allowed designers to endow the cabin with an impressive amount of space. Still, some long-time buyers may have trouble wrapping their heads around the idea of electric SUV from Jaguar, no matter how quick it is.
Some buyers no doubt will miss the brand's former conservative design approach, one Callum has abandoned with the launch of the 2007 Jaguar XF.
"Those who were in charge of the brand for 30 years kept copying the past. We became the masters of the past," Callum said. "I think this sentimentality that people have got of old Jaguars is a little strange, because it was not the ethos of the man who created the brand. He wanted change all of the time. An XJ looked nothing like a Mark IX or Mark X."
Finbar McFall, global product marketing director for Jaguar, echoes Callum's sentiment. "I think it's no exaggeration to say that we're going through a period of unprecedented change and ultimately transformation," he said.
"If you don't accept the electric story, then buy an F-Pace," Callum said.
And for those who still yearn for an E-Type, or a Mark IX, Callum has a simple answer.
"Go buy an old Jag. I've got one; I love it. But it belongs to an era, and we have to belong to the present and the future. Jaguar is always about extending the future."
That future arrives in 2018.
