Jaguar Previews the XE SV Project 8 Performance Sedan

Jaguar is working hard at giving the big boys of the luxury segment some food for though. And soon the British automaker will take aim at the M3 with a compact performance sedan of its own.

Dubbed the Jaguar XE SV Project 8, this rig is the thing that the BMW M3’s nightmares are made of. It will roll in boasting a 5.0-liter supercharged V-8 that shoots 600 PS (592 horsepower) to the rear wheels. Believe it or not, this makes the XE SV Project 8 the most powerful road-legal production Jaguar ever built.

Unfortunately, Jaguar didn’t release any information beyond this monster sedan’s output, but its custom SVO camouflage doesn’t hide much. The XE SV Project 8 will boast a new hood with a heat extractor, and a new front fascia with massive air inlets and a sharp splitter. Down the sides are aggressive sills that meet the larger front and rear wheel flares. Around back, all the camo in the world can’t hide that huge spoiler, small rear diffuser, and the quad-exit exhaust tips.

Jaguar XE SV Project 8 (Credit: © Jaguar)

There are no sneak peeks at the interior, but I expect an equally aggressive design in here. Expect tight racing seats, limited features, and plenty of track-tuned items. From the video (below) you can tell that there will be paddle shifters, but that’s about all the interior details there is.

Now here’s the downside to this rig… Jaguar will produce no more than 300 examples. So, there is no way it can ever be a true M3 killer. Maybe we’ll get lucky and this will act as a primer to a mass-produced M3 rival from Jag.

Keep it locked here, as we will get to see the XE SV Project 8 in full on June 28, 2017 – at least that’s what the video implies.

Stay tuned!