Priced from RM900,000 before local taxes and shipping, this is the fastest sedan in the world right now and we wonder why the marketers at RS, M Power and AMG are not working to counter this British brand, Indian owned sedan. Yes, the engineers at Jaguar have produced a sedan capable of tearing around the Nürburgring Nordschleife in just 7min 18.361sec. The Audi RS Avant laps the circuit in 7min 58.52 secs and the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S does it in 7min 55.0 secs.
Press Release: The Jaguar Special Vehicle Operations-developed XE SV Project 8 has demonstrated its breadth of performance capability by setting the fastest Nürburgring Nordschleife lap time for a four-door production car again: 7min 18.361secs.
This new officially-verified time on the 20.6km (12.8-mile) lap is 2.9 seconds faster than Project 8’s previous benchmark set in November 2017 and 7 seconds faster than any other four-door production car has achieved.
Project 8 is also the first vehicle to set an official whole lap record in the Nürburgring’s mid-range production car class, lapping the 20.8km (12.94-mile) circuit length in 7min 23.164sec.
Returning to the legendary German circuit in a production-specification two-seat Track Pack version of Project 8 was development driver Vincent Radermecker. The car’s height-adjustable twin-spring coil-over suspension was set in ‘track’ ride height, with adjustable front splitter and carbonfibre rear aerodynamic wing positioned for maximum downforce and stability.
To maximise performance and steering precision, for the final record runs Project 8 was fitted with new off-the-shelf ultra-high-performance Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres. Tested and chosen by SV engineers for their capability on the track, the road-legal tyres use rubber compounds directly transferred from Michelin’s competition tyres.
Jamal Hameedi, Engineering Director, Jaguar Special Vehicle Operations, said: “The original Nürburgring time set by Jaguar XE SV Project 8 demonstrated the extreme performance envelope of the world’s fastest production sedan, but the SV team is driven by a motorsport mentality and we knew Project 8 could go even faster. This new official record time is a fitting reward for everyone who has played a part in pushing the boundaries for our customers with Project 8.”
Powered by the most highly tuned 600PS version of Jaguar’s 5.0-litre Supercharged V8, the all-wheel-drive Project 8 is capable of 0-60mph in 3.3 seconds (0-100km/h in 3.7 seconds) and a top speed of 200mph (320km/h). Project 8 also features a fully-enclosed flat underbody for enhanced aerodynamics, which is key to its performance.
Production of the limited-edition Project 8 will finish this year. There are three distinct four-door specifications available:
- Lightweight two-seat Track Pack* – as used for the record lap times
- Four-seat configuration with same aero package and performance as Track Pack
- Touring specification with discreet fixed rear spoiler – the ultimate Q-car, limited to 15 examples worldwide and 186mph.
Prices for the Jaguar XE SV Project 8 start from £149,995 in the UK
