Winter tests for GT

Prototypes of Jaguar’s all-electric luxury four-door GT are being winter testing by taking on temperatures as low as minus 40C in the Arctic Circle.

The GT is undergoing the most rigorous global validation programme in the marque’s history with 150 units covering hundreds of thousands of kilometres across hot desert highways, frozen lakes and advanced virtual environments.

The assessment schedule has been designed to push every system to its limits to deliver the most technically advanced Jaguar production vehicle made. 

Winter testing on the frozen lakes of Sweden is helping engineers to refine the characteristics of the four-door GT’s drive modes to ensure the EV delivers “instinctive responses and calming comfort”. 

With more than 735.5kW, it will be Jaguar’s most powerful road car. Advanced all-wheel-drive tri-motor technology with intelligent torque vectoring puts the power where it’s needed more quickly and precisely than ever before. 

Engineers are also putting the finishing touches to calibrations. Chassis systems, the all-wheel steering, bespoke 23-inch winter tyres, dynamic air suspension and active twin-valve dampers work with the propulsion torque control.

Matt Becker, vehicle engineering director, says: “Jaguar has always been about driving pleasure and our electric four-door GT will be no different. It marks a step-change in our technical ambitions. 

“Innovative in-house electric propulsion technologies combine with its unique proportions and low centre of gravity for a luxurious grand tourer that drives like nothing else.”

The sub-zero temperatures of the Arctic Circle also give engineers the right conditions to validate its advanced ThermAssist technology. 

This onboard thermal management system reduces heating energy consumption by up to 40 per cent and aims to recover heat to warm the propulsion system or cabin in ambient temperatures as low as minus 10C while optimising driving range. The all-electric four-door GT will make its world premiere later this year.