Jaguar World Magazine XKR-S_XJS Vs. XJ8 April 2011 Back Issue

Blue bullet
Turn to page six of this issue, however,
and you can read more about that bright
blue, and new, XKR-S shown publically for
the first time in Geneva. And it promises to
be quite a machine. Billed as the fastest
‘series’ production Jaguar ever, the XKR-S is
even more powerful than the limited edition
XKR 75 that appeared last year. With an
expected UK on the road price of £97,000
when orders open in September, the XKR-S
is considerably more expensive too – the XKR
75 costing £85,500 – and so marks entry into
new sales territory for Jaguar. More expensive
than Aston Martin’s V8 Vantage and Porsche’s
911 GT3 (and only just shy of the latter’s GT3
RS), the XKR-S has a lot to live up to in order
to justify that lofty price tag.
Will it? We’ll have to wait a little while
yet to find out, but given how well the
XKR 75 performed – and not forgetting the
considerable dynamic abilities of all of the
current ‘standard’ range either – I’ve every
confidence that if Jaguar’s engineers say
the XKR-S is the most driver-focused model
they’ve ever produced, then it will be just that.
Exciting as that prospect is, from a volume
sales point of view for Jaguar there was
more significant news from Geneva as brand
manager Adrian Hallmark announced that a
four-cylinder diesel engine for the XF, with a
CO2 output of just 150g/km, is also on the
way. I’m certain it won’t do 186mph…but it will
widen the appeal of Jaguar’s range still further.