Jaguar is now running I-Pace rides at the Nürburgring

How does one prove that one’s car is sporty? Why, take it to the Nürburgring of course. Clearly a handful of laps wasn’t enough for Jaguar, though, because it has now decided that the I-Pace should become a fully fledged ‘Ring taxi. 

You’ll be familiar with the concept thanks to the raft of BMW M3 and M5s that operate around the famous 12.9-mile circuit, but Jaguar is now – perhaps unsurprisingly – the first manufacturer to offer customers an all-electric taxi experience.

Sadly, those customers won’t get a run in the race-prepped Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy cars – they’ll have to make do with the standard electric SUV. 

The I-Pace’s figures are strong, though. There’s all-wheel drive of course fed by 394bhp and 513lb ft of torque, but then there’s also 2133kg to heave around and we can’t help but feel the claimed 298 miles of road range will dramatically shrink when being tortured by professional racing drivers. Still, it only needs to manage a lap at a time, we guess.

That single lap will apparently cost from €149. Quite a bit then, but for €100 extra Jaguar will let you swap the eco-warrior I-Pace for a lap in the full-fat XE Project 8 – complete with its 5.0-litre supercharged V8 and 592bhp.

Okay, we think we know where our money would go…