- 200mph and 0-60mph in 3.3sec – Jaguar XE SV Project 8
- 600PS/700Nm 5.0-litre supercharged V8
- First car completely hand-assembled at £20m new SVO Technical Centre
- Just 300 worldwide – all left-hand drive
- Priced from £149,995 in UK
“This is one of the most extreme vehicles we have ever created, but still very much a Jaguar” – Ian Callum
CRACK on Jaguar! The Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) unit has revealed this: the most powerful, agile and extreme performance Jaguar road car ever – the 200mph, 600PS Jaguar XE SV Project 8 sport saloon.
And while Aston Martin tries the electric route, this is pure fossil fuel horsepower and aerodynamic excellence from the best of British.
Design director Ian Callum goes further: “The aerodynamic elements are hugely significant beyond 150mph, even more so beyond 180mph.
“This is one of the most extreme vehicles we have ever created, but still very much a Jaguar.”
To ensure exclusivity, no more than 300 examples will be created, each assembled at SVO’s Technical Centre in Coventry.
The second Collector’s Edition by SVO, following the successful F-Type Project 7 of 2014, Project 8 is a hand-built four-door saloon with supercar performance – designed to thrill driving enthusiasts, with an extraordinary combination of explosive power, dynamic agility and all-wheel-drive traction.
John Edwards, Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations managing director, said: “SVO’s raison d’être is to produce halo vehicles that push the boundaries in terms of luxury, performance and all-terrain capability.
“Project 8 is a great example of what happens when enthusiastic designers, engineers and manufacturing specialists are given the opportunity to create an extreme performance sports car without compromise.”
Project 8 exclusively features the most highly tuned version of Jaguar Land Rover’s 5.0-litre Supercharged V8 petrol powertrain.
The 600PS power unit, which has a titanium variable active exhaust, is complemented by Jaguar’s All-Wheel Drive (AWD) system and motorsport-derived aerodynamics to deliver a 200mph top speed and 0-60mph in 3.3sec, making Project 8 the fastest accelerating Jaguar yet.
Fundamental to the performance of the most track-focused car SVO has ever produced, Project 8 features a number of purposeful modifications to the award-winning XE’s lightweight aluminium body panels.
Features making it the lightest V8 saloon in the Jaguar range include carbon fibre bumper with enhanced cooling ducts, vented carbon fibre bonnet, flared bodywork covering 20-inch forged aluminium alloy wheels (11-inch wide at rear), adjustable front splitter, flat underbody, rear carbon fibre bumper, rear diffuser and adjustable rear aerodynamic wing.
Giving the driver all the required information on speed, revs and dynamic performance, whether on road or track, Project 8 features the latest Virtual 12.3-inch TFT Instrument Panel Display with full-screen 3D Map View navigation, a 200mph-plus speedometer and Track Mode interface directly behind the steering wheel.
As standard, Project 8 is fitted with tablet-style touchscreen 10.2-inch Touch Pro infotainment featuring Dynamic-i, which adds a stopwatch, g-meter readout and accelerator and braking graphics to the central touchscreen display, and Dual View technology allowing passenger and driver to view different content on the central control screen simultaneously.
Mark Stanton, SVO director, said: “We have really been able to unleash the potential of our engineering and design teams in specifying Project 8.
“We are at the beginning of a very challenging and exciting development programme which will see us focus on ensuring Project 8 delivers track performance on a level previously not targeted by Jaguar.
“The SVO team is full of performance car enthusiasts that are now briefed to deliver motorsport science and soul in what is effectively a four-door supercar.”
Project 8 will be available to order in four-seat specification with a Track Pack version featuring two race specification seats and Harness Retention Hoop available as an option.
The Project 8 with Track Pack makes its world dynamic debut on Friday June 30 at Goodwood Festival of Speed, while the four-seat ‘standard’ version will be shown on the Jaguar Land Rover stand for those trying to argue their case for a rocket-propelled business car.
