Jaguar's classroom on wheels

[MoSSaN69]

There are the obvious reasons why Jaguar would want to build the fire-breathing Project 8 sport sedan: infinite opportunities for marketing and magazine covers, the performance halo from a 592-hp car, a chance for dealers and the brand to reward favored clients.

But there's a less obvious motivation that Jaguar hopes will pay dividends down the line: on-the-job training.

The Project 8 is overseen by Jaguar Land Rover's Special Vehicle Operations in Coventry, England, the division responsible for limited-edition variants such as Jaguar's F-Type SVR and Project 7, the Range Rover Sport SVR and the Range Rover SVAutobiography.

The hand-built Project 8 is a limited-run series of 300 cars, costing around $190,000 each (the program is profitable, the company insists). It's based on the more mild-mannered XE, Jaguar's compact sport sedan.

But the XE was never designed to hold a V-8 engine of any kind, certainly not the surly 5.0-liter supercharged unit in the Project 8. Neither was it designed to hit 200 mph or do 0 to 60 in 3.3 seconds, abilities promised by the Project 8.

[St Koppen]

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