Bertone presents Jaguar B99 Concept at Geneva

Italian car stylers Bertone have revealed the B99 Jaguar Concept at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. Manufactured to celebrate Jaguar’s 99-year anniversary, the B99 Concept is a compact four door sedan designed for the large family car market.

One of the only vehicles at the show to feature an all new design, the B99 paves the way for the look of future Jags with what Bertone is calling a “dynamic imbalance” of parallel lines and leaping forms.The B99’s body is fashioned in a traditional Italian “coachbuilder” style by being constructed entirely with handmade aluminium.

At the front of the B99, Bertone brings Jaguar into the 21st century with a large open-mouth radiator grill and sleek LED headlights. Yet the car remains true to tradition with the trademark leaping Jaguar hood ornament, which now automatically retracts thanks to motion sensors when any object or person comes too close in proximity. Say goodbye to those pesky hood ornament thieves!

In the middle the B99 features suicide doors and a lack of a B-pillar, while at the rear the front grille has been copy-pasted onto the boot and an active aerodynamic spoilerautomaticallyrises at high speeds to increase downforce.

In what is perhaps a surprising move, the B99 is not a stereotypical gas-guzzling Jag. Instead Bertone have opted to power the vehicle with a hybrid system that features twin 150kW electric engines and a 125kW thermal engine giving the B99 a total power output of 425kW. In hybrid mode Bertone say the B99 is good for 700 km of highway driving with emissions of around 30g Co2/km, however the car can also switch over to full electric mode for zero emissions but with a greatly decreased range of just 100 km.

Bertone also plan to release a full GT2 race version of the B99 that will feature “high speed aerodynamic appendages and aggressive graphics.”