You can be forgiven if the curves look familiar. The C-X75 was created to celebrate Jaguar’s 75th anniversary, and as such, it purposely recalls iconic speed sleds like the XJ13 of the 1960s and the XJ220 of the 1990s.

The C-X75’s voluptuous lines hide a range-extending hybrid powetrain akin to the one found in the Chevrolet Volt; four 195-horsepower electric motors, one at each wheel, are paired with two 80,000-rpm gasoline turbines that live under the Jag’s rear lid. Jaguar claims that each motor weighs a scant 50 kg and that, in total, the car is capable of producing 780 hp and 1180 lb-ft of torque. Power is stored in a 19-kWH, 330-pound lithium-ion battery pack that can provide up to 68 miles of electric-only driving. 62 mph arrives in a scant 3.4 seconds.

Like most supercar concepts, the Jag boasts a host of staggeringly expensive, eye-candy-laden features. The turbines, axial-flow micro units that were developed in concert with Bladon Jets, are the result of a joint project with the British government-sponsored Technology Strategy Board. The car’s interior is a mass of TFT screens, polished metal, and stretched leather. The aluminum bodywork houses an adjustable-vane exhaust—those turbines have to breathe, after all—and a carbon-fiber-clad rear diffuser that looks like the business end of a Transformer in heat.

In short, the C-X75 is impractical. In many ways, it’s disconnected from reality. It likely cost more than a hundred government toilets and has as much chance of ending up in our driveway as the Eiffel Tower. And, crucially, it plucks a few heartstrings by name-checking history and the cars we loved when we were little.

In other words, it’s exactly the kind of thing we go to auto shows to see.

Photos: Sam Smith/Wired.com

Authors: Sam Smith

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