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Fuore Design Jaguar BlackJag Drops By the Essen Motor Show

In the year 2004, Jaguar was a struggling manufacturer. Bad management from the Ford Motor Company rendered the British company somewhat of a compromise. To be frank, the Ford Mondeo-based X-Type and the S-Type were horrible in every way.
Fuore Design Jaguar BlackJag at the Essen Motor Show 2014 9 photos
Photo: Stefan Baldauf
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Only the R-spec S-Type with the blown AJ33 4.2-liter V8 motor was a proper performance saloon worthy of the leaping cat ornament on the hood, along with the first-generation XK. Still, before the Blue Oval called it quits and sold the brand to Tata Motors in 2008, Ford commissioned two cool concepts.

Even though the XF 10 and BlackJag concept vehicles were mostly the creations of Fuore Design, having little to do with Jaguar itself, those two one-offs demonstrated to the world what Ford could have done with the carmaker if the higher-ups would have given complete control to the designers and engineers.

The Jaguar BlackJag stopped by the Essen Motor Show and it looks like up close and personal

Despite a few superficial scratches here and there, this bad kitty was for sale back in May for a hefty €2.8 million ($3.82 million). Somebody bought it and decided to showcase it at the German tuning show for passersby to feast their eyes on a great cat that didn’t make it into mass production.

Fuore Design were as mad as a box of frogs back in the day and the BlackJag is a prime example of the design studio’s craziness. Its interior may be riddled with too many silvery bits and pieces, while the awkward steering wheel is not ergonomic at all, but the far-out exterior styling makes up for the weak points. That motorsport-inspired, streamlined body hides a few outstanding pieces of kit as well.

Originally unveiled at Geneva in 2004, this is a cat with a big heart. A 7-liter V10 mounted in the middle, that is. Thanks to the 640 hp it produces, the 121-cm tall Jaguar BlackJag by Fuore Design is capable (in theory) of hitting 62 mph (100 km/h) in 3.8 seconds, all the way to a top speed of 210 mph (338 km/h).
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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