Jaguar World Magazine New XFR and XKR March 2009 Back Issue

In terms of news headlines, 2009 has begun
rather as 2008 ended, with continuing and
ever worsening forecasts for the UK and
world economies in the foreseeable future. And,
given that the car industry seems to be suffering
more than most, I’m sure there will be many
harbingers of doom out there all too keen to
point out that Jaguar’s timing of the release of
its all-new 5.0-litre V8 engines couldn’t have
been worse.
I’m sure there will be many at Jaguar too who
would prefer to be unveiling new range-topping
engines at a more prosperous time, but as the
5.0-litre AJ-V8 Gen III programme was given the
green light in November 2005, you can forgive the
fact that back then even those with the clearest
economic crystal balls could not have seen what
was coming. But even if the money men could
have anticipated the present economic meltdown,
I’d like to think that it would not have influenced the
decision to say yes.
Of course, had Jaguar only been developing
its new V8 during the intervening period then,
yes, the company would
have very real cause for
concern. Let’s face it,
the number of people
able to buy and run
supercars such as the
new XKR and XFR at
present are relatively
few. In fact, even in
more prosperous times
the number sold would
not be great. But that’s
missing the point.