Color us disappointed. Jaguar isn’t planning a BMW M3?fighting XE SVR supersedan after all. There were hints that such a thing might follow on the heels of the limited-run XE SV Project 8, revealed last year as an extreme and exclusive high-performance creation from the company’s Special Vehicle Operations division. Despite our past speculations (and hopes) about the XE SVR, a spokesperson for SVO confirmed that the Project 8?of which only 300 copies will be sold worldwide?will be the only V-8?powered edition of the compact sports sedan.
Senior programs manager for SVO Duncan Smith emphasized that the division wants to differentiate itself from the likes of BMW M and Mercedes-AMG, meaning that it tailors projects to fit each individual car it works on. “The Project 8 was the extreme embodiment of what the XE could do,” he explained. And by our reckoning it had better be, considering its $188,495 base price and ultra-exclusive status (it’s nearly sold out at this point). The absence of a more widely available SVR version leaves the XE S, propelled by a 380-hp supercharged 3.0-liter V-6 and starting at $53,270, as the hottest version of the sedan.
This decision to skip an XE SVR also seems to have something to do with the arrival of the new V-8?powered F-Pace SVR, which we suspect received priority because of the recent explosion of the super-SUV market with entries such as the Mercedes-AMG GLC63 and the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio....