We're Going On An 'M' Hunt

Jaguar asked its Special Vehicle Operations division to build an M4 GTS rival . So it has.

- Stuart Gallagher

THREE HUNDRED AND twenty-two kilometres per hour, nigh-on 600bhp and aerodynamics at the forefront of the design. Built in a limited production run and conceived by a skunkworks team. To this day, Jaguar’s XJ220 remains an enigma, a topic of conversation that fires the imagination and a car many regret not buying when values dropped below the price of a new F-type.

In 2017, Jaguar’s ‘Saturday Club’ no longer gathers unofficially at Castle Bromwich to try to squeeze a V12 into a sleek structure and cover it all with an aluminium body. Today the club is called Special Vehicle Operations and it operates legitimately out of its own facility in Coventry.

To celebrate its first birthday, SVO thought it would build itself a suitable present. A present that just so happens to be the most powerful road car Jaguar has ever made. They have christened it the XE SV Project 8, and it’s as singularly focused as it looks.

It will also be the first car that SVO has built. Until now, SVO’s focus has been on developing JLR products, and repainting or trimming where required, leaving construction to the firm’s major plants. This is very different.