James Bond movies feature some of the world’s most innovative automobiles. Bond drove a luxurious Bentley Mark IV in “From Russia With Love”; a top-of-the-line Aston Martin DB5 in “Goldfinger” and “Thunderball”; and the unrivaled Lotus Espirit in “The Spy Who Loved Me.” The villains, however, rarely get chances to drive such iconic vehicles. Other than the beautiful Rolls-Royce Phantom III owned by Auric Goldfinger, none of them stand out as particularly inventive or glamorous.
That changed in 2015 when Mr. Hinx, the gigantic assassin featured in “Spectre,” took to the streets of Rome in a Jaguar C-X75.
The Jaguar C-X75 Pushes the Limits of Hybrid Technology
The Jaguar C-X75 is an electric hybrid sports car that pushes the limits of current technology to reach astounding speeds. Adding a powerful engine to most cars isn’t the most difficult thing for Jaguar’s engineers to do. The C-X75, however, has a slender body that doesn’t offer enough room for so much as a V8 engine. Jaguar, therefore, developed a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine to work in conjunction with its four electric motors (yes, it has one for each wheel).
Jaguar’s pursuit of excellence, of course, doesn’t allow it to use just any engine. The company developed a model that gains exceptional power and speeds with help from a supercharger and turbocharger. It even makes use of both direct and indirect fuel injection to improve performance at any speed.
Jaguar’s hard work paid off. The C-X75 can reach a top speed of 205 miles per hour (330 kilometers per hour) and generate up to 1,180 pound-feet of torque (1,600 Newton meters). All of that power makes it possible for the Jaguar C-X75 to launch itself from zero to 62 mph (100 km/h) in just 3.4 second. It can then charge from 50 to 90 mph (80 to 145 km/h) in 2.3 seconds.
Great Power Without the Pollution
The Jaguar C-X75 certainly isn’t the only car capable of meeting these performance goals. Most cars with this much power under the hood, though, produce excessive amounts of pollution. As a hybrid vehicle, the C-X75 is specifically designed to create as little exhaust as possible.
According to Jaguar, the C-X75 produces an average 0.1 pounds of carbon per mile driven (28 grams per kilometer). To put that in context, Toyota considers its cars environmentally friendly for producing about 0.54 pounds of carbon per mile (155 grams per kilometer).
