Jaguar GT, snow test for the electric car of discord

Last tests for the Jaguar GT, a door-mounted electric car that brings to the road what was anticipated by the Type 00 concept. This prototype marked the British manufacturer's definitive abandonment of the endothermic engine, but above all was highly divisive in terms of the styling chosen and a series of details starting with the new logo. The images arriving from the Arctic Circle, with 150 prototypes engaged in the latest low-temperature tests, underline how Jaguar confirms its desire to become a 100% electric brand.

Despite unconventional styling for Jaguar, the GT promises class-leading driving pleasure. A quality made possible not only by the 1,000 horsepower at its disposal, making it the most powerful Jaguar in history, the tri-engine all-wheel drive technology with Intelligent Torque Vectoring will be able to distribute power where it is needed, faster and more precisely. Added to this are chassis control systems, dedicated 23-inch winter tyres, dynamic air suspension and active twin-valve dampers.

If tests at low temperatures are a constant on all cars, with electric models they become essential. The reason is related to the lower range when travelling in sub-zero temperatures. The sub-zero temperatures of the Arctic Circle also provide ideal conditions for validating Jaguar's ThermAssist technology. This on-board thermal management system reduces energy consumption for heating by up to 40 per cent and allows heat to be recovered to heat the propulsion system or passenger compartment even in ambient temperatures as low as -10 °C while optimising range. The 150 prototypes have travelled hundreds of thousands of kilometres through desert routes, frozen lakes with temperatures as low as -40 degrees and advanced virtual environments. As Her Majesty's carmaker itself declared, this was an unprecedented scale of testing for Jaguar, with the most comprehensive virtual simulation and bench testing programme ever undertaken, prior to physical evaluation on the road. This amount of testing is intended to shield the GT from criticism over reliability, which in the past has often failed to live up to the mark on the bonnet.