The Jaguar XJ220, even though not really that old, certainly is a classic car.
In the 1980s when rich man had money to splash around with and were looking for more motoring excitement, a number of supercars were designed.
The newly designed Jaguar XJ220 was one of the fastest and most practical cars. Besides being fast it was indeed beautiful, powerful and of course expensive. But it was pretty bulky too and even a rich man wouldn’t choose it for everyday use. Besides that the two-seater was not really easy to drive.
The prototype that was introduced in 1988 was fitted with Jaguar’s V12 engine, had four-wheel-drive and was even bigger than the car later produced. Even tough it was not yet tested it already carried the XJ220 title that indicated how fast the car would be.
Because of the positive reaction the car then was produced in collaboration with Tom Walkinshaw Racing. 1989 the new car was first announced and it was not only smaller but also had a twin-turbo V6 engine and rear drive only. The engine now used was the same that was used in all Jaguar racing sports cars.
The customers didn’t seem to mind the changes, and even though Jaguar only wanted to produce 350 cars, 1,200 customers wanted to buy one.
The Jaguar XJ220 was manufactured in the new factory near Banbury. It was a civilised version of a race car but with air-conditioning.
In 1992 the car was first sold and even though the car had a top speed of 213 mph and everybody seemed to be fond of it, there was nothing Jaguar could do about the recession. The market for expensive cars collapsed and only 271 cars were built in three years. As not even all cars were sold the beautiful Jaguar XJ220 was a commercial failure.
