In September, Jaguar opened up a state-of-the-art design studio in the UK. For the first time in the company's 84-year history, the entire design team assembled in a single location.
The studio is more than 12,000 square meters, doubling the previous footprint. It's enough room for the approximately 280 designers, with backgrounds in everything from fashion and watchmaking to sports and gaming, to simultaneously work on 20 full-size clay models.
This week, the company unveiled the new 2021 Jaguar F-Type, a new high-end sports car that starts at a little more than $70,000 US.
The F-TYPE R, which starts around $101,800, has a 5.0-liter supercharged V8 that generates 575 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. The 'R' accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and has an electronically-limited max speed of 186 mph.
Jaguar used the launch, as well as a partnership with Hot Wheels, to show off the new design studio from a unique perspective.
As part of the partnership, Hot Wheels created a 1:64-scale model of F-TYPE and built a 761-foot long custom track that stretched through the studio. With 25 loops and 55 boosters, the track traveled over various workspaces -- it even drove through its life-sized counterpart.
The designers from Jaguar and Hot Wheels used the CAD data from the real car to create a precise 3D-printed recreation.
The Hot Wheels team also recreated the Velocity Blue color and even hand-painted the F-TYPE badge on the back. The custom-built track was designed and developed under the tutelage of Official Hot Wheels master track designer Paul Schmid. The tiny F-TYPE reaches scale speeds of up to 300 mph.
The real version will be on sale early next year; the Hot Wheels version won't be on the market until November 2020.
