Jaguar considering two levels of production for the C-X75 Concept

That's all b/s up to 7 years? They made the original Dodge Viper in like 3 20 years ago!

@ pennfootball

Yes, Chrysler has been one of the best automotive manufacturers to take a vehicle from concept to production in the shortest amount of time, but there are consequences: reliability, build quality, supply, etc.

As to your point, the Jag is not the Viper. I love the original Viper, but it was the most basic of cars. It just had a big ass motor. It was simple to produce and get on the street. Hell, I don't even think it had side windows.

LOL how many jet engines does a Viper have anyway? I think it's cool that a big manufacturer is looking at turbine power again even if it's only to provide power to an electric drive system. Kinda cool really. The engineer in me wonders most about where and how the heat is being vented. Not only would you have very warm batteries but exhaust from two gas turbines as well in what looks like a pretty tight enclosure. The car would probably sound awesome however! The problem in the past with turbines is that they don't tend to be the most fuel efficient things in the world. They are light weight however so I suspect that's why they are looking at them as a potential power source. Cool project, I hope we see more of this. Oh and by the way, Way to go Jaguar! If you can make it all make sense and work properly stuff like this could really put you on the map.

As a foot-note to my last post. Jaguar really needs something to encourage younger buyers to consider the brand. Most Jag buyers on on the "last time" buyer program so they need to do something quick.

@ Neverfollow

From an engineering standpoint, why not use a simpler wankel engine instead of the turbines? I am not a Mazda or Wankel fanboy. I am just curious to hear your thoughts.

I will admit that while twin turbines is freakin awesome, and would allow the inner kid in me to relive some Batman fantasies, turbines are inefficient and would bring up costs.

Actually, heat can be an advantage if you have the right heat exchanger and thermocouple configuration. But getting it right...not easy.

Thanks for the question. Wankels truely do not work well. The Germans invented it and couldn't make them work. The Asians bought the idea from Audi and really really tried hard to make them work to no avail either. They leak, they're not very fuel efficient (but neither are the turbines) and there is absolutely NO "cool factor"! The turbines don't have to be very big to serve as battery chargers I guess, and they certainly are compact and light weight enough. No else is doing it or even looking at them right now. Unlike the Chrysler Turbine that was used to move the car, using turbines as an electrical power source for electric motors that actually do all the work makes perfect sense. No need to worry about torque or spool up time during stop and go traffic. The electric motors provide all the low end torque needed for that and the turbines can stay at optimal rpms the whole time. The sound would be soooooo cool. There is no way it would go unnoticed anywhere. Valets would park R8's in the back if they had one of these to place outside the door! I'm serious!

Jet fuel is essentially Diesel fuel, so filling up would not be a problem either. If they could just get rid of the batteries altogether and use some sort of big capacitor or something, the overall weight savings would be huge!