James Bond must maintain a deep, public relationship to British automobiles. And he always has. Starting with the Bentley in Ian Flemming’s original James Bond spy novels, the Aston Martin Sean Connery turned into an icon, the Lotus Esprit submarine and now, in the upcoming SPECTRE, Bond drives the Aston Martin DB10 concept. But while Bond has plenty of luxury British horsepower, his nemeses — as unveiled at the Frankfurt Auto Show — have power to match.
Hinx, played by David Bautista, will be chasing down Bond through the moonlit streets of Rome in a Jaguar CX-75 Concept, a 778 horsepower twin-turbine hybrid-electric supercar. It’s the most advanced car Jaguar has ever built, but unfortunately, it’s one of a kind and won’t be going into production. Hopefully the public’s reaction to the concept car on the silver screen will be great enough to convince Jaguar to change its stance on letting the CX-75 remain just a concept.
In a second chase scene, and with a little help from the Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations department, the villains traverse the Austrian Alps in a Range Rover Sport SVR and a “Big Foot” Defender. The Range Rover Sport SVR is Land Rover’s fastest and most powerful production car ever, not to mention it’s just as competent on the track as it is off road. The SVO modified Defender has reinforced body panels, 37-inch off-road tires and an exterior roll cage. The “Big Foot” seems indestructible, but Bond doesn’t seem to know the word, since he chases them down in a Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander plane and tries to crash into them. It’s plenty of shiny sheet metal that will all, despite our cringing, likely go up in flames.
