TAKING pride of place on the Jaguar stand at the Frankfurt Motor Show was the strikingly aggressive I-Pace eTrophy, a bright teal, race-ready version of the British marque’s pure-electric SUV.

Set for its own one-make race series in 2018, the same year the road-going version of the I-Pace rolls into showrooms, the I-Pace eTrophy should be the kind of thing that makes Jaguar faithful hurl their flatcaps onto the dirt.

After all, an electric SUV is perhaps the last vehicle from the Jaguar stable that you’d base a race car on.

Ian Callum jaguar electric cars

“We’re working on a few electric cars at the moment,” Callum told Wheels. “I think there will be no lack of emotion.”

“I’ve driven the I-Pace and it’s good fun to drive and handles well. Mike Cross, our test driver, likes it and he’s responsible for making it drive like a Jaguar.”

But while company people are bullish about the rise of electrification at Jaguar, Callum conceded that a lot of time may need to pass before die-hard fans would accept a pure EV like the I-Pace as being true Jaguars.

Jaguar electric

Callum wouldn’t say how long it would take until Jaguar’s first electric-only sports car arrived, but the company’s 2020 electrification target doesn’t necessarily mean battery-electrics will be the sole powertrain offering across its product portfolio – not by a long shot.

Jaguar electric cars