The XJS luxury grand tourer splits opinion to this day, particularly because it was a different animal from the fabulous-looking feline it replaced in Jaguar's lineup. The successor of the William Lyons-era E-Type and the predecessor of the Ford-era XK8 rolled out in 1975 with a 5.3-liter V12, a gas-guzzling engine that would be enlarged to 6.0 liters in 1992, when Ford was running the show.
Twinned with the XJ sedan, the XJS benefited from styling cues penned by Malcolm Sayer of C-Type, D-Type, E-Type, and XJ13 fame. Of those, its rear buttresses and the concave rear window clearly stand out. Plagued by a plethora of problems, including build quality issues attributed to the automotive monstrosity known as British Leyland, the XJS is also remembered for its racing successes with the folks at TWR.
TWR produced seven Group A-spec XJS race cars, which paved the way for a number of high-output upgrade packages intended for the road car. Nearly three decades after the final XJS rolled off the assembly line in Coventry, the big cat is back in the form of the appropriately named TWR Supercat.
Established in 2020 by Tom Walkinshaw's son, TWR Performance is a bespoke automobile constructor that seeks to protect and perfect all things analog with its bite-the-back-of-your-hand beautiful machines. The Supercat is best described as a celebration of the Jaguar XJS and Tom Walkinshaw Racing, a carbon-bodied super grand tourer with more than 600 horsepower on tap from a supercharged V12 mill.
To make its dynamic debut in the summer of 2024, the Supercat features touring car-inspired exterior styling credited to Need for Speed concept artist Khyzyl Saleem and Porsche aficionado Magnus Walker. Although TWR hasn't published any photos of the rear-wheel-drive feline's interior, the British company did promise a completely unique cockpit. As expected, it will be revealed in the summer of 2024 as well.
Photo: TWR Performance
Equipped with a manual transmission rather than a torque-converter automatic or a dual-clutch box, the Supercat is the culmination of almost three years of work. Deliveries will start in the second half of 2024, with prices kicking off at £225,000 before taxes. In other words, 282,250 freedom eagles at current exchange rates. Available in the United Kingdom, the United States, and other major international markets, the Supercat is a limited affair, with TWR poised to produce only 88 units.
Why 88 and not 89 or an even 90? The answer is TWR Jaguar XJR-9 LM and the 1988 edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours. Powered by a 7.0-liter V12 derived from the 5.3-liter V12 in the XJS, the Silk Cut-sponsored racing car finished the grueling race just ahead of the Porsche 962C of Derek Bell, Hans-Joachim Stuck, and Klaus Ludwig. Both clocked 394 laps in the span of 24 hours, with the Jaguar of Jan Lammers, Andy Wallace, and Johnny Dumfries covering 5,332.97 kilometers (3,313.75 miles) at an average speed of 221.665 kph (137.736 mph).
Had he been here with us today, Tom Walkinshaw would have certainly been pleased by what Fergus and company managed to create in just under three years of hard work. However, Walkinshaw Sr. wouldn't be pleased with Tata Motors. Specifically, with how Tata Motors currently manages Jaguar.
A husk of its former self, the Leaping Cat of Coventry will stop making combustion-engined vehicles by June 2024 in favor of three new electric vehicles based on the Jaguar Electric Architecture. To be unleashed in late 2024 in the form of a four-door electric grand tourer, the first JEA-based model is allegedly good for up to 700 kilometers (430 miles) of driving range. Targeting a starting price of £100,000 or just around $125,400 as of April 2024, the yet-unnamed model will be produced in Solihull alongside the Land Rover division's Range Rover Electric.
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. Full profile
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