Jaguar today confirmed for the first time that four-wheel drive will be added across the F-type range in 2015 – with our first public view at the Los Angeles motor show in November 2014.
CAR magazine has already scooped the four-wheel drive F-type AWD models on a couple of occasions, but today’s announcement is the first official acknowledgement of their existence.
The 4wd F-types are expected to arrive in UK showrooms in time for summer 2015.
A major expansion of the Jag F-type range
What is eye-catching is the confirmation that the Jaguar F-type range will swell from six to 14 models in 2015.
That suggests that our prediction that 4wd will be offered on every model is accurate. And, as previously reported, manual derivatives are coming too (to date, the F-type has been available only with Jag’s ZF automatic transmission).
Yep, they’re going 911-chasing, alright… Click here for our Jaguar F-type review.
Jaguar partners with Bloodhound
Jaguar today also revealed a new partnership with the Bloodhound SSC team which is aiming to break the 763mph world land speed record in 2015, and then attempt 1000mph a year later.
Jag will become the automotive supplier to the team, in a bid to crank up awareness of its sporting aspects in a period when the new model launch programme consists of more workaday models such as the XE 3-series rival and the forthcoming 2016 SUV.
It is believed that some Jaguar technology will also be used in the Bloodhound project. Other suppliers, such as Rolex, are supplying timing equipment for instance.
To mark the announcement, Jaguar teamed up with world record holder – and Bloodhound pilot/driver – Andy Green in a test run in South Africa.
He drove a Jaguar F-type R Coupe AWD in a dry run of the comms equipment to check the radio works at approaching the speed of sound: the four-wheel drive Jag drove at 186mph v-max across the Hakskeen Pan desert in the Northern Cape of South Africa while a jet plane flew the opposite direction at 500mph at 50ft altitude.
Publicity stunts, eh? But we can’t help feeling a little bit excited about 2015’s record attempt. If man doesn’t dream, and all that…