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Jaguar Brings the Bling with F-Type Heritage 60 Edition

Jaguar has commissioned a Sixties-inspired F-Type Heritage 60 Edition to celebrate the E-Type’s 60^th anniversary. While diamonds are customary on this occasion, the automaker has instead dipped into the E-Type’s palette for its Sherwood Green tone, a color not offered since the 1960s.

Conspicuous by its scarcity, the brand’s SV Bespoke unit is offering just sixty of these distinctive 2021 F-Types worldwide as either a coupe or convertible. Utilizing the F-Type R’s all-wheel-drive, 575-horsepower, supercharged drivetrain, each will be built at the Castle Bromwich plant in the United Kingdom before being hand-finished by the SV Bespoke team at Jaguar’s Special Vehicle Operations in Warwickshire.

What separates an F-Type Heritage 60 Edition from a run-of-the-mill F-Type R? Besides the green hue, you get two-tone leather trim, aluminum console trim obsessed over by a designer looking at the E-Type’s rearview mirror casing, and a 60^th Anniversary logo embossed in the headrests of the performance seats. Gloss black 20-inch forged alloy wheels, gloss black and chrome exterior accents, and black brake calipers bestow additional exclusivity. Badging likely leftover from the E-Type Collection vehicles is included, along with commemorative tread plates, and an SV Bespoke plaque to ensure nobody mistakes your Heritage 60 Edition from the more pedestrian R variant.

While F-Type Heritage 60 Edition pricing has not been announced, the tab on the F-Type R, 5.0-liter, 575-hp supercharged V-8, AWD, starts at $103,200 for the coupe, and $105,900 for the convertible. Expect that with only sixty units available worldwide, at-market pricing sharply north of those figures will likely prevail. As with every other Jaguar vehicle, a 5-year/60,000-mile new-vehicle limited warranty, complimentary scheduled maintenance, and 24/7 roadside service are included.

Not to miss out on a party, Jaguar Classic is creating six limited-edition matched pairs of restored 3.8-liter 1960s E-type vehicles that pay tribute to two revered examples, 9600 HP and 77 RW, known as the E-type 60 Collection. We have absolutely no earthly idea what these would cost, or if they will even be offered for sale.

A diamond may be forever, but the F-Type Heritage 60 Edition is bright and shiny, if not bold and beautiful. Rolling artisan-crafted sophistication, versus the glitterati.

[Images: Jaguar]

Variation on a Theme: Audi Q5 Sportback

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[Image: Audi}

Like it or not, and it seems most of our readers don’t, manufacturers are pressing ahead with the coupification of luxury-grade small crossovers. The BMW X4 and Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe generally offer a more sport and less utility, thanks in no small part to a roofline that begins to swoop dramatically to the pavement just aft of the driver’s noggin.

Audi wants in, of course. The existence of a Q5 Sportback was confirmed earlier this year. Now they’re ready to show a production version, complete with its so-called Singleframe grille aggressively tapered rear end.

It’ll not escape your notice that this car’s roofline begins its downward slope so early that the third side window tapers sharply to the rear. Specifics weren’t readily available but this styling decision must surely impact the Q5 Sportback’s cargo capacity compared to a normal Q5. Ah, the high price of fashion.

On this side of the pond, the Audi Q5 Sportback will receive the brand’s 2.0L TFSI engine and a 12v mild-hybrid electric vehicle system, a team that plays well together to deliver 261 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque. Quattro all-wheel drive is part of the deal.

<img data-attachment-id=”1736720″ data-permalink=”https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2020/09/variation-on-a-theme-audi-q5-sportback/7791-q5sb00007/” data-orig-file=”https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/7791-Q5SB00007.jpg” data-orig-size=”5000,3750″ data-comments-opened=”1″ data-image-meta=”{“aperture”:”0″,”credit”:””,”camera”:””,”caption”:””,”created_timestamp”:”1599323775″,”copyright”:””,”focal_length”:”0″,”iso”:”0″,”shutter_speed”:”0″,”title”:””,”orientation”:”1″}” data-image-title=”Audi Q5 Sportback” data-image-description=”

[Image: Audi}

As they have with other crossovers and SUVs in their lineup, Audi will add the ‘S’ prefix to this machine, creating the SQ5 Sportback. The SQFünf utilizes a 3.0L V6 engine good for 349 ponies and 369 lb-ft of German twist. The SQ5 will also come standard equipped with adaptive dampers and offers an available air suspension permitting the adjustment of ride height and suspension firmness.

Inside, look for the same well-hewn and high-quality cabin that is a hallmark of just about every new Audi currently on sale in America. The brand’s display-based virtual cockpit and 12.3-inch display are available, as is a heads-up display and all manner of infotainment options through the 10.1-inch MMI touchscreen system.

<img data-attachment-id=”1736718″ data-permalink=”https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2020/09/variation-on-a-theme-audi-q5-sportback/7789-q5sb00009/” data-orig-file=”https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/7789-Q5SB00009.jpg” data-orig-size=”5000,3749″ data-comments-opened=”1″ data-image-meta=”{“aperture”:”0″,”credit”:””,”camera”:””,”caption”:””,”created_timestamp”:”1600068659″,”copyright”:””,”focal_length”:”0″,”iso”:”0″,”shutter_speed”:”0″,”title”:””,”orientation”:”1″}” data-image-title=”Audi Q5 Sportback” data-image-description=”

[Image: Audi}

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These types of vehicles are generally selected over their upright cousins for styling reasons, as the sibling rivalry of X3 and X4 in the BMW showroom demonstrate to great effect. In America, X3 generally outsells X4 by a factor of roughly 4:1. Still, there’s an excellent chance more than a few of the nearly 9,000 X4s sold in 2019 were to customers new to the brand. Audi surely hopes to turn a similar trick with their new Q5 Sportback.

The Audi Q5 Sportback will not be built in Germany. It rolls off the assembly line at the company’s San José Chiapa plant in Mexico and will launch in the U.S. in the first half of 2021.

[Images: Audi]

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Will the Mitten Get the Blues? Michigan Looks Anew at Old License Plates

If you’re of a certain age, you likely remember the all-blue Michigan license plates with white lettering.

I know I do, despite not being a Michigander. That’s in part because the Great Lakes State wasn’t too far from my suburban Chicago abode – day trips to New Buffalo remain a treasured memory – and in part because enough tourists from the Wolverine State found their way to my fair city.

Now, those plates may be coming back. State senator Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) has introduced a bill (Senate Bill 1146) that would bring back the white-on-blue plates, as well as the white-on-black, as an option for an additional fee of $100. The money would go towards the state’s transportation fund, presumably to fix Michigan’s broken infrastructure.

As someone who lived briefly in the state years ago, and has spent many a minute in the Mitten, especially the DTW area, due to this career, let me just say, the state’s roads need a fixin’.

And before you @ me about how it’s not much better here in northeast Illinois, which is true, keep in mind that if Michigan roads weren’t so bad, Fiat Chrysler wouldn’t try to replicate them at its proving grounds as a way of testing suspensions. But they are and it does.

Michigan does already allow vintage plates that display a classic car’s model year, but those plates come with restrictions. If this bill passes, Michigan would be allowing any driver to get these plates as standard.

California brought back its yellow-on-black classic design in 2015 and attempted to also bring back the yellow-on-blue, before the yellow/black combo won out in terms of popularity among car owners. Oregon and Nevada also offer vintage designs.

As an Illinois resident, I’d love to see the plates made famous by John Hughes’ flicks return. Still, these are cool plates and the idea seems a tidy way to generate much-needed revenue without raising taxes elsewhere. Unless no one orders them, that is.

There’s also a minor connection to our little blog world here, as McMorrow is married to ex-Jalop EIC Ray Wert. Full disclosure: She also appears to follow TTAC on the Tweet machine.

Retro all the plates.

[Image: Keith Bell/Shutterstock.com]

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Ford F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid Pricing Goes Live

Ford’s build-and-price tool can now be wielded against the next-generation F-150 pickup, revealing that going hybrid will vary wildly in price, depending on where you start.

While a report last month detailed expected pricing, now it’s official. The cost of adding hybrid power to your 2021 F-150 sinks as your truck’s standard power output rises.

Not yet rated, Ford claims the 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6/electric motor combo gives PowerBoost-equipped F-150s class-leading horsepower and torque. The unit’s mated to a 10-speed automatic, with the 47-horse electric motor lessening the need for the gas engine to do all the heavy lifting.

Fuel economy is still unknown.

That said, pricing is here. While the 2021 F-150’s B&P tool is still young and wonky, it does reveal that the earlier report was correct. The base price of a ’21 F-150 (XL 4×2 regular cab, 6.5-foot box) is indeed $30,365 after destination, a $190 bump from the year before, but you won’t be able to get the PowerBoost on the absolute bargain basement model. That could change with time.

For now, it seems the cheapest hybrid is the XL 4×2 regular cab with 8-foot box, stickering for $38,495. We can also see that the PowerBoost option appears on the XL SuperCrew with 6.5-foot box costing $3,300, and in the XL SuperCrew 5.5-foot box costing $4,495. The difference between the two models? Engine size. The former carries a 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6, the latter a 3.3-liter V6. The smaller the initial engine output, the pricier it’ll be to get into a hybrid.

Case in point: On the King Ranch, which carries a 5.0-liter V8 as standard equipment, the PowerBoost option amounts to $2,500. On the top-flight Limited trim (3.5L EcoBoost standard), it’s a mere $1,900 ask.

As the truck draws nearer to its fall production date, additional configurations should arise (right now, the B&P tool shows no hybrid availability for Lariat trim, despite Ford saying otherwise elsewhere on the site, and XLT configurations seem to still be under construction). Stay tuned.

Lucid Motors Plots 20 Storefronts By 2022

<img data-attachment-id="1531073" data-permalink="https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/03/clearing-the-air-price-and-specs/020a12_c1661576311d48cbb2e98acc04be6af0-mv2_d_3240_1907_s_2/" data-orig-file="https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/020a12_c1661576311d48cbb2e98acc04be6af0-mv2_d_3240_1907_s_2-e1489607287333.jpg" data-orig-size="2240,1318" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.8","credit":"","camera":"FC6310","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1481466431","copyright":"","focal_length":"8.8","iso":"200","shutter_speed":"0.01","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Lucid Air" data-image-description="

Image: Lucid Motors

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On Wednesday, Lucid Motors announced plans to open 20 retail locations and service centers across North America by the end of 2021. They’ll be called “Lucid Studios,” helping the company herald in what it considers “new standards for sustainable transportation” via the sale of luxury vehicles.

You know as well as we do that this type of language is customary among EV startups trying to sell you on the concept of shopping your way into a healthier environment. Yet the strategy appears to be working. Electric vehicle firms seem to enjoy nothing but victory on this continent right now — even if they seem to be dying off in places like China — and are poised to make big moves over the next few years.

That said, it’s always prudent to take any announcements from an automaker with a grain of salt. That’s doubly true if they happen to be in their infancy. Elio Motors had (has?) a pretty sound business plan, and we all know how that turned out. In the electric realm, we could just as easily point to Faraday Future, Dyson, or the recent troubles incurred by Nio — the latter of which seemed positioned to take on Tesla in Asia a few months ago, with plans to eventually market product here.

Lucid, like so many automotive startups before it, may end up in a similarly sinking boat. Its direct-to-consumer model is hardly new among EV companies. It also harps on sustainable materials integrated into both its products and facilities using flowery language, most of it woefully empty.

“Just as the Lucid Air is meticulously designed and engineered to be a new benchmark in the luxury electric car segment, we designed Lucid Studios to be engaging, to start conversations and to help educate people about the performance and efficiency benchmarks possible in an electric vehicle,” said Peter Rawlinson, CEO and CTO of Lucid Motors. “A Lucid Studio is a place for people to learn about our unique brand while supporting every facet of the customer journey.”

You have to wonder if the people writing the copy for these kinds of press announcements actually speak them aloud before publishing. Obviously, they can’t just say “we’re opening some shops, come on by” and maintain that air of subtle superiority. But there’s just something so hollow and monotonous about the media releases of luxury automakers. Is this how fancier people like being spoken to, or have I just read too much marketing copy?

Happily, Lucid’s commitment to actually building these stores seems far less empty than the default phrasing it chose for marketing purposes. It’s already promised to construct 8 storefronts posthaste. While the first few will be located in California, the company said it wants to put one in New York City’s Meatpacking District; another just outside Washington, D.C.; and two on Florida’s West Coast.

From Lucid Motors:

With a direct-to-consumer model, Lucid will offer a digitally enhanced luxury experience tailored to each customer’s purchase and ownership preferences. Customers will have the option to visit a Studio in person, make their inquiries entirely online, or any combination of the two. The company’s California-inspired design aesthetic is integrated throughout the experience in both physical spaces and digital experiences.

For Lucid Studios, this translates to an efficient design that supports every phase of the customer journey, from discovery to delivery and every moment in between. To that end, Lucid purposely selected spaces with relatively small footprints in high-traffic areas, where customers can spend time in a thoughtfully designed space that highlights Lucid’s advanced technology in a warm atmosphere of natural, sustainable materials.

It doesn’t sound as though the shops will be ready in time for the 1,000-hp Lucid Air that’s set to debut this September. A few should be prepped in time for its actual launch, which was pushed back on account of the pandemic. Considering the pace at which Lucid was already moving, that may not be the worst thing in the world. There’s a sense that many of these EV startups destroyed themselves by biting off way more than they were ready to chew.

Lucid is one of the few that shows real promise, however, and it seems intent on delivering a genuinely appealing EV at a high-but-competitive price. It’s a fragile ecosystem, and electric cars are extremely vulnerable — and supported primarily by outside investments. Best to play it safe when things seem to be going smoothly.

[Images: Lucid Motors]

QOTD: Feeling Underwhelmed?

A very minor occurrence nudged my brain in this direction. One the way home from nowhere last night, a cop lit himself up like a Christmas tree in order to blow a light, his 3.7-liter V6 screaming as it strained to move the Police Interceptor Utility’s bulk with something approaching alacrity.

Which got me to thinking about the previous-generation Explorer and its platform mate, the defunct Lincoln MKT — both of which offered a 2.0-liter four-cylinder for a time. And from that, a question formed. What specific vehicles would you call under-engined?

In some cases, this will apply only to certain configurations of certain models. Like the examples mentioned above. The 2.0L Ecoboost experiment in the Explorer was over after 2015; the 240-horse mill disappeared in favor of a more potent 2.3-liter Ecoboost for those who shunned standard six-cylinder power. In the whale-like MKT, the 235-horse 2.0L was only available to fleet buyers of the livery special MKT Town Car, which came only in front-drive guise with that powerplant under hood.

Seems like an awful lot of car to pull along with an engine that’s good enough (but nothing special) in an MKC, but that’s just one way of looking at it. While the loaded, AWD MKT with 3.5-liter Ecoboost V6 tipped the scales at a hair under 5,000 pounds, the front-drive 3.7-liter model came in at a slightly more svelte 4,700 lbs. Ditch the V6 and the 2.0L MKT Town Car may have come in a not insignificant amount below that (I can’t seem to find a specific curb weight for this rare configuration).

In contrast, a loaded AWD MKC 2.0L weighed 4,000 lbs. Suddenly the MKT doesn’t seem like such a gross mismatch for this engine. Drop that engine’s output by half and sling it into a 2,300 lb economy car and you’d have, say, 118 hp and 130 lb-ft on tap to move that modest bulk. Seems adequate, doesn’t it? At least by 1990s (or even 2000s) standards, anyway.

Other examples of arguably under-engined cars include the likes of the hugely expensive and tech-laden BMW i8, with its 1.5-liter three-banger and limited recharging abilities under a heavy throttle, and such dissimilar rides as the Chrysler R-bodies of the Carter-Reagan handover era. An asphyxiated 85 hp Slant Six moving a full-size Newport or St. Regis? Ooof. Young street hockey players would have plenty of time to scatter — and maybe even prepare a snack at home — if they heard that thing winding up at the end of the block. In that case, it isn’t so much the displacement that’s the problem, it’s just the dismal output borne of EPA meddling.

Anyone old enough to recall old, non-sporting British imports is probably raising their hand at the back of class right now, squeaking out “Oh! Oh! Oh!”, so we’ll allow it, so long as they were once sold on North American soil. The same goes for any other vehicle that came from abroad.

There’s years and decades from which to choose, so get cracking. Which make and model was a total mismatch for at least one of its available engines?

[Image: Lincoln]

Type-S (Almost) All the Things: Acura’s 2022 Product Line Leaked

Slides from an Acura dealer webinar have leaked onto the Internet, and Acura fans, take note.

While almost anything on Reddit needs to be approached with a reasonably skeptical eye – do you really think all those posts on r/relationships are real? – there are a few news nuggets to mine here.

First of all, almost all the models in the lineup, save the RDX and NSX, appear to be getting a spicier Type-S trim. That’s no shock with the NSX, since that supercar is already hot enough, but it’s mildly surprising in terms of the RDX, given the relative sportiness of Acura’s crossovers. Especially since the other crossover, the MDX, will get the Type-S treatment.

So that means the TLX and MDX will get Type-S trims, along with the “New Compact Sedan”. The MDX and New Compact Sedan will follow the TLX in the launch order. The RDX and NSX aren’t listed before 2022.

Wait, what? No ILX?

Well, we don’t know. The lack of ILX nomenclature could mean a change in name, and speculation is rampant that the Integra name could return. That could revive interest in the brand – not everyone loves alphanumeric nomenclature. Then again, whatever problems Acura may or may not have probably run deeper than just the brand’s naming convention. Too many sedans and not enough crossovers, for one thing, could be an issue. Even with the RLX now pining for the fjords.

There’s still no crossover smaller than RDX or larger than MDX on offer, you’ll notice. The webinar can be seen here.

The ILX has been mostly an afterthought over its lifetime, even though the car once offered a base powertrain that including a manual. That particular car was a blast to drive, but not luxurious enough for the brand and not as dedicated to performance as the Integra and later, the RSX.

Either name could come back, or perhaps the ILX moniker will return after all. All we know is that there will be some sort of compact sedan bearing Acura badging with a Type-S option box to check.

As for the Type-S hi-po trims, here’s the background. The Type-S concept previewed the just-shown 2021 TLX, and the Type-S version is slated to have a 3.0-liter V6 that likely makes north of 300 horsepower, along with all-wheel drive.

This lineup overall will be complete by 2022. We’ve already seen the 2021 TLX, so we know that as Jerry Seinfeld once told an unfortunate immigrant restauranteur, wheels are in motion.

We don’t have specs or other details yet. We’ve reached out to Acura for comment but have not heard back by press time.

Stay tuned. With the Detroit and New York auto shows binned for this year and L.A. an uncertainty, it’s hard to predict when the covers may lift. Virtual reveals could happen, too, thanks to COVID-19.

Either way, the Acura lineup just got a lot spicier, at least on paper. And every Integra fanboy/fangirl just fainted.

Not to deepen the vapors, but what if the new compact, or at least a version of it, ends up being an Acura version of the beloved Honda Civic Type R?

Take a breath to collect yourself.

A lineup full of Type-S trims and a strong entry in the compact class could be just the booster shot the doctor ordered.

H/t to contributor Chris Tonn

[Image: Acura]

Tag: News Blog

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Variation on a Theme: Audi Q5 Sportback

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