XE

Make
Jaguar
Segment
Sedan

From the moment Jaguar revealed the limited edition XE SV Project 8, the most powerful road car the company has ever built, everyone knew it wouldn't be cheap. Car and Driver has learned that all 300 examples will carry a base price of $188,495. Now, it's important to remember that not all of the 300 will be sent to anxious US buyers. Jaguar's previous ferocious cat, the F-Type Project 7, had a total build tally of 250 examples, of which just 50 were sent stateside.

Because of the higher build number for the XE SV Project 8, a pretty good guess for US allocation would be about 60 units. That's it. Even with that nearly $200k price tag, Jaguar will have absolutely no problem selling them. In fact, it should almost be expected that dealerships who are given the privilege to sell one, will likely mark them up because that's what greedy dealerships do for limited in-demand models. The hand-built sedan is powered by the familiar supercharged 5.0-liter V8 with 592 hp, and features a ton of aerodynamic bodywork, such as flat underbody, front and rear carbon fiber bumpers, rear diffuser and adjustable rear wing.

What particularly makes this feline noticeable are those front air vents, which remind some people of cat whiskers. Tipping the scale at 3,850 pounds, zero to 60 mph happens in just 3.3 seconds, and the car tops out at over 200 mph. As Jaguar's Special Operations Managing Director, John Edwards, told us at Frankfurt earlier this month, the original directive he gave his team was to simply stuff that V8 under the XE's hood. That's it. Obviously they went above and beyond the original instructions. Good for them.