A new Jaguar F-Type V6 S navigates the Circuito Navarra in Spain.

As regular readers might have noticed, hybrids are no longer for fuel economy anymore.  Well, not exclusively.  There’s a growing list of manufacturers using alternative technologies to add a big performance punch, as well, notably including Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche.

And you’ll soon be able to add Jaguar to that list, if the scuttlebutt proves accurate.  Borrowing a bit of technology from the now-cancelled C-X75 supercar program, Jaguar is reportedly working up a 700-horsepower hybrid driveline for the upcoming coupe version of the new F-Type.

The new drivetrain – if it makes it beyond the planning stage – would provide a significant bump over the still-new Jaguar F-Type convertible’s 495-hp V8 S model.  And it would bump the top speed from an already impressive 186 mph to something north of 200, according to British auto mag AutoExpress, which broke the story.

Jaguar killed off the closely-watched C-X75 supercar project but hopes to reuse some of its technology.

“We have done an R-S version with over 700bhp that will do over 200mph – it’s going to be insane,” the publication quoted the usual “unnamed source.” However, we were advised by several folks, including global brand chief Adrian Hallmark, several months ago that Jaguar would like to find ways to integrate a performance hybrid into its line-up and that the maker doesn’t want to walk away entirely from the development effort it put into the defunct C-X75.

That program was killed offer late last year, according to Hallmark, who at the time explained, “We feel we could make the car work, but looking at the global austerity measures in place now, it seems the wrong time to launch an £800,000 to £1 million supercar.”

The more exotic C-X75 was to have featured a bonded carbon fiber chassis developed in cooperation with the Formula One racing team Williams.  There were to be two electric motors, one at each axle, drawing power from a lithium-ion battery pack.

(First drive: Jaguar’s new F-Type sports car. Click Here.)

The plans for the F-Type version would reportedly adopt a supercharged 1.6-liter gas engine, along with two electric motors.  If it maintained the front/rear motor layout the approach would enhance traction by creating what some have dubbed a “through-the-road” all-wheel-drive system.

An F-Type R-S would apparently be detuned from a planned 900-hp with the Jaguar C-X75, though 700 horses moving a vehicle not much heavier than a Porsche 911 would nonetheless be impressive.  Compare that with the 553-hp made by the current 911 Turbo S.

(Porsche goes hybrid for 918 supercar. Click Here.)

Obviously, the more advanced chassis elements of the C-X75 won’t carry forward, though it appears Jaguar wants to have a more rigid body available to handle the torque this sort of powertrain might develop, meaning it will wait for the anticipated coupe version of the new F-Type.

(Hybrid power pumps up new LaFerrari. Click Here for details.)

A production date of sometime after 2016 is being bandied about for the F-Type R-S.