Design Car Jaguar XJ220

Jaguar XJ220 Design

The design of the XJ220 was undertaken by ex-racecar designer Richard Owen who, along with a small team, designed the car to be hand-built at a rate of 3-4 cars a week.

The car was previewed in 1988 as a groundbreaking 48 valve, V12, 4-wheel drive dream car capable of 220 miles an hour - hence the name. The Jaguar XJ220 supercar is not quite as super as it was originally intended.

Jaguar XJ220 Engine

In their place was a V6, albeit a highly tuned 542 hp unit derived from the MG Metro 6R4, and a RWD transmission. This powertrain gave the Jaguar XJ220 a top speed just in excess of 210 mph. The wheelbase of the XJ220 was also cut by 8 inches to help reduce weight and cut costs. Unfortunately during the development of the car the designers were pressured to meet time and cost targets. The end result being that many of the featured promised on the 1988 concept car were cut. The V12 engine and the four-wheel-drive system being the most obvious.

As a further blow to the XJ200 project and Jaguar an unforeseen world recession meant that many potential customers, and even some who had paid deposits were reluctant to fork over the vast sums of money required to have one on the driveway. After just two years of production and 271 completed cars the Jaguar XJ220 was canceled.