- Title: Jaguar rolls out red carpet for unveiling
- Date: 15th November 2016
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) IAN CALLUM, JAGUAR DIRECTOR OF DESIGN, SAYING: "We within Jaguar design and engineering feel that we have to have an electric car because that's where the future is going to hold. We have a very dynamic engineering design team very ambitious and we looked to the future and said this is the only way we are going to do this. So, we did it. That's it. You know."
- Embargoed: 29th November 2016 06:33
- Keywords: Michelle Rodriguez Miranda Kerr Jay Leno Niall Horan James Corden Electric car I-Pace Jaguar
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Living / Lifestyle,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA00358K0B4D
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: British luxury automaker Jaguar made its entry into the automotive future with Monday evening's (November 14) unveiling of its first electric car, the concept I-Pace.
The elegant red carpet event took place in Hollywood and was attended by a number celebrities that included the likes of model Miranda Kerr, talk show host James Corden and singer Niall Horan.
"Jaguars are very sophisticated, their timeless, elegance," Kerr told Reuters. "I just feel like they they drive really well, really smooth. I have a Jaguar myself."
Corden proudly added that the brand has kept its identity in place.
"It's great to still have some sort of form of automobile, which is still British somehow," said Corden. "It very much feels that somehow and when you sit in it, it feels it. So, yeah it's wonderful."
Despite the stars, top billing for the night belonged to the sleekly styled, I-Pace.
And while its exterior design cues are familiar with the brands current SUV, the battery powered technology are all new.
"It was also the confidence that people would understand that if we get it," said Jaguar legendary designer Ian Callum, on the I-Pace. "But you know electric cars are one thing a lot of people say, 'Well not everybody wants electric cars.' It doesn't matter, you going to get in a car they want, regardless of how it it powered. I think we've done it with this. I feel no nervousness about it whatsoever. It will sell well."
Part of Callum's confidence is based on performance. The I-Pace boast nearly 400 horsepower with 0-to-60 times of 4 seconds flat. Even more important is a driving range of 220 miles per charge, which is on pace - no pun intended - with Tesla's Model X.
"We within Jaguar design and engineering feel that we have to have an electric car because that's where the future is going to hold," explained Callum. "We have a very dynamic engineering design team very ambitious and we looked to the future and said this is the only way we are going to do this. So, we did it."
Jaguar hopes to have the I-Pace hitting production for 2018. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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