Jaguar has revealed its latest high-performance model is a hand-built, track-ready version of the XE compact sedan powered by a 592-hp version of Jaguar/Land Rover's 5.0L supercharged V8 and limited to be limited to 300 examples worldwide.
The British automaker says the XE SV Project 8's powerplant is the most potent version of an engine borrowed from vehicles as varied as the 2018 Jaguar F-Type sports car and the 2017 Land Rover Range Rover. As well as creating the most powerful road car in the brand's history, the company says the car's extensive use of carbon-fibre also help create the fastest accelerating Jaguar ever, with a 0-100 km/h sprint time of 3.7 seconds. The car's front and rear bumpers, front quarter panels, front splitter, lower side skirts and rear diffuser and wing are all made from the lightweight material.
The front splitter, rear diffuser and rear wing are more than just an excuse to make stuff out of an exotic material. Jaguar says they're serious aerodynamic tweaks that work with a flat underbody and reshaped trunk floor to keep the car planted at a claimed top speed of nearly 322 km/h.
The XE SV Project 8 is also the first Jaguar to get a track-specific drive mode that tailors throttle, transmission and steering responses and stability control intervention for track driving. And exclusive to the Project 8 is a carbon ceramic brake system with six-piston front calipers and motorsport-grade brake fluid.
Inside, the Project 8 gets magnesium-framed front performance seats, and even the two-place rear seat gets aggressive bolstering. What we won't get in North America is a rear-seat delete option that also adds carbon fibre racing seats with four-point harnesses fixed to a retention hoop where the rear seat used to be.
But as much as this car's construction appears focused on all-out performance, there are a number of nods to the kind of exclusivity that goes along with a hand-built car whose production will be limited to such a small number.
Jag says it will paint your Project 8 in any one of 10,000 colours (in addition to eight standard body colour choices), and will offer a variety of accent colours for brake calipers, grille surround, mirror caps and the various aero bits.
The Jaguar XE SV Project 8 will make its official debut June 29 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where the car will power its way up the Goodwood Hill Climb course on June 30. Pricing hasn't been announced yet for the Canadian market.
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