While the original was meant to be a hybrid, the only road-legal C-X75 uses a supercharged V8.
More than a decade ago, Jaguar tried to follow up on its landmark XJ220 hypercar with the groundbreaking C-X75. The pricey plug-in hybrid was too far ahead of its time though, and was canceled before being relegated to the status of movie car. But at long last, one of those movie cars has become what the C-X75 was always meant to be: A real road car.
What may be Jaguar’s final hypercar was brought to fruition by the design firm of the man who original styled it, Ian Callum. Originally meant to enter production in 2011, the C-X75 was to feature a twincharged 1.6-liter plug-in hybrid drivetrain that made the better part of 900 horsepower. But in the fallout of the then-recent recession (which curtailed production of the now legendary Lexus LFA), Jaguar canceled the project because it predicted trouble selling million-dollar hybrids.
2015 Jaguar C-X75 stunt car for “Spectre.” Jaguar
Instead, the closest the C-X75 got to the public was in a car chase in 2015 James Bond film Spectre. Those stunt cars didn’t use Jaguar’s original mechanicals, but rather tube frames built by Williams Advanced Engineering, packing the 5.0-liter supercharged V8 from the F-Type. Five were used in filming, of which four survived—and now, one has become a real boy.
One of the stunt cars was obtained by a collector, who hired Callum Designs to finish the job. Callum’s team fit real safety glass, a quieter exhaust, a catalytic converter, and functional mirrors to make it legal on British public roads. To improve livability, it also evened out the panel gaps, adjusted ride height and damping, and refinished the carbon fiber body to a high standard.
The only road-legal Jaguar C-X75 will make its public debut at a sold-out car meet in Oxfordshire on April 21, where people will get plenty of footage of this rare animal. It’s a shame it doesn’t use as exotic of a drivetrain as it was meant to, but having one of the most renowned engines of the 2010s isn’t a bad consolation prize.
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