Jaguar XE SV Project 8 Touring

At the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2017, the Jaguar XE SV Project 8 debuted as the absolute top-of-the-range model for the midsize saloon and as the latest project of Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) department. Some time later, the car impressively demonstrated its potential with a lap time of 7:21.23 minutes at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, making it the fastest four-door production saloon around there. The Jaguar still holds this record to this day, as well as other lap records, for example at the Dubai Autodrome or around Laguna Seca. The Project 8 isn’t only qualified to do so by its supercharged V8 engine, which produces 600 hp from five liters of displacement, but also by the suspension, which has been specially developed for this model, with a wider track and its own spring-damper characteristics. With a limit of just 300 copies, the British brand also provide for a certain desirability for this sports sedan, which according to customer requirements comes as a four-seater or as a two-seater with integrated roll cage.

Now comes a rather surprising step from Jaguar. 15 vehicles can be ordered by interested parties in the newly developed Touring variant. This is aimed specifically at people who would like to use the XE SV Project 8 as a sporty everyday vehicle and therefore would have chosen the four-seater configuration anyway. In addition, the Touring comes without the big, adjustable rear wing, which is normally mounted on the trunk lid. Instead, a spoiler lip integrated into the boot lid, combined with a newly shaped front splitter, ensures aerodynamic balance. The drive remains with the 600 hp engine and the eight-speed automatic transmission, whereby the sedan accelerates to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds and can reach an electronically limited topspeed of 186 mph. The ‘200 mph package’, which is available for the regular Project 8 and raises the topspeed to 200 mph, is not available for the XE SV Project 8 Touring.

In addition to the optical change without the rear wing, brand fans will immediately also be aware of the clear surfaces along the bodywork, which carry eye-catching decals on the normal Project 8. These are only available on request for the Touring, which makes it a more elegant version and a real Q car. The paint colors available are ‘British Racing Green’, ‘Corris Grey Satin’, ‘Valencia Orange’ and ‘Velocity Blue’. Jaguar so far made no information about the price for the XE SV Project 8 Touring.

Images: Jaguar