The E-Type & I-Pace: Jaguar’s Past & Future

Let’s face it: we’ve all been a little nostalgic recently. From film reboots like Mulan and Bill & Ted, to our abandoning downtown Toronto for the suburbs where we all grew up, it seems like if nothing else, this year has reminded us how good we had it.

Let’s face it: we’ve all been a little nostalgic recently. From film reboots like Mulan and Bill & Ted, to our abandoning downtown Toronto for the suburbs where we all grew up, it seems like if nothing else, this year has reminded us how good we had it.

For Jaguar, it's a familiar story. Perhaps no other automotive marque’s reputation relies on it's glorious past, while persevering into the future against the odds, than Jaguar.

And at no time has that been more obvious than as we slide further into the 2020’s.

The E-Type Legend Just Keeps Getting More Legendary

If Jaguar’s present and future are firmly rooted in the past, then the largest, most enduring root is the E-Type. To get an idea of what we mean, just google “Jaguar E-Type” and select the “News” option in your browser.

While you might expect to find old magazine articles about the E-Type’s launch and its heyday, the entire first page of results we got were authored within the last 3 weeks. In other words, this 60 year old legend is still a hot topic today. Here are just some of the articles we found from leading news outlets:

  • The Robb Report: “This 1961 Jaguar E-Type Has Been Restored to Its Original Glory. Now It Can Be Yours.”

  • Autoweek: “Watch Frank Stephenson Redesign the Jaguar E-Type”

  • The Telegraph: “At the Age of 60, Why This Jaguar is Still the Most Beautiful Car in the World”

In case you missed it, the title of that last article underscores our point nicely. No other automotive design has been called “the most beautiful in the world” more than the E-Type’s, and it continues to bewitch us. Jaguar’s past is most definitely part of its present and future.

Why the I-Pace is the Future

This one is as plain as the I-Pace’s body style and engine. It’s an all-electric Crossover/SUV. If the significance of that isn’t apparent, think about this. In 2010, a short step back in Jaguar’s 85 year history, most of us would have howled with laughter at the suggestion of an all-electric Jaguar. Are you kidding? The builder of legendary, Lemans winning gasoline-powered engines going electric? Nah!

Oh, and an all-wheel-drive Jaguar Crossover? Well, that’s not even funny. You must be a lunatic!

But when we look at the automotive market realities in the 2020s, Crossovers/SUVs are key to the survival of almost any manufacturer. And if you’re not in the all-electric game, you’re not going to be anything more than a niche player in the future.

And there are a couple other reasons that the I-Pace sets the pace for Jaguar’s future.

  • It’s Highly Rated –  Car & Driver ranked it 4th in a review of all-electric vehicles, ahead of the Mercedes EQC and Tesla Model 3. And US New & World Report ranked it 3rd in a similar review.

  • It has the Performance Numbers – Its dual electric motors put out 394 horsepower and 512 pound-feet of torque. Car & Driver says “the I-Pace also handles more like a sports car than a five-seat crossover.”

  • It has the Style – It’s not the E-Type, nothing else ever will be. But its massive wheels, set in muscular wheel arches, supports a swift profile.

  • It’s Award-Winning – In its short history, the I-pace has managed to rack-up the 2019 World Car of the Year Award and the 2019 World Green Car of the Year award.

Whether you drive an E-Type or an I-Pace, or both, you can count on dealer-equivalent Jaguar parts and service from Westminster Motors.

If you want to learn more about Jaguar, check out our article “5Things Not Many People Know About Jaguar”.