Jaguar XKR-S won't be coming to the States
One of the hottest Jags to roll out of Coventry isn't coming to our shores. The highly-tuned 420-hp Jaguar XKR-S sports coupe features stiffer springs, firmer dampers, thicker anti-roll bars, quickened steering, and lighter forged 20-inch alloy wheels wrapped in performance rubber. Aerodynamic changes, including a new rear spoiler, reduce lift up front by 60 percent, and 17 percent at the rear, while overall drag drops by three percent. The supercharged V8 is unchanged. Limited to a run of just 200 cars, Jaguar North America doesn't feel it can run head-to-head with the likes of tuned Porsches and other sports cars in the States so the automaker is limiting sales to just Germany and Britain. What? You don't think we can handle it?
Gallery: 2008 Jaguar XKR-S
[Source: Autoweek]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Epyx 1:11PM (8/15/2008)
Oh well.
Reply
Ken Stamper 1:12PM (8/15/2008)
Pah, I can't take a car seriously as a sports car if it is not even available with a manual anyway... probably a good choice not to bring it here, as the kind of person who would buy a car like this would gravitate towards one of the special edition 911's. Jag customers in the US want a GT, not a sports car
Reply
shadysi 1:14PM (8/15/2008)
Germany and Britan only? So I guess they think they can keep up with M and RS cars then...
North American car companies love making excuses for excluding themselves from top of the line models. What a joke.
Reply
Joe 2:23PM (8/15/2008)
Funny thing is that this car is made by a British company, owned by an Indian company.
WTH are you thinking?
shadysi 3:08PM (8/15/2008)
I was still thinking that they were owned by ford. :-X
996700 1:20PM (8/15/2008)
this car has to be good thats why we won't be getting it!!
Reply
Greg 1:26PM (8/15/2008)
They are just cowards who know this thing can't compete with a tuned Cobalt.
Reply
Stephen 1:28PM (8/15/2008)
DB9 much?
Reply
Mike 1:31PM (8/15/2008)
"Jaguar North America doesn't feel it can run head-to-head with the likes of tuned Porsches and other sports cars in the States so the automaker is limiting sales to just Germany and Britain."
Yeah, because the sports car competition is much thinner in Germany and Britain.
*coughlotusBMWastonmartinAMGporschecough*
Ahem, er, excuse me.
Reply
Kumail 1:32PM (8/15/2008)
i really don't think that anybody cares. xkr is nice enough for those who know about it, but others will stick to their lambo's, and ferrari's. although i would suggest a granturismo s. :D
Reply
J3-Colt 2:09PM (8/15/2008)
Gee, that's too bad...Jag-u-ars help keep mechanics and tow truck services busy and employed... :-)
Reply
ken_aisin 2:35PM (8/15/2008)
Don't worry, we still have the Range Rovers to keep them busy and employed :)
ken_aisin 2:34PM (8/15/2008)
Who cares? I wouldn't want to drive a Tata anyway.
Reply
Michael D. 2:58PM (8/15/2008)
I saw this in Autoweek, in rag form and on-line, and this is because the facelifted XK will arrive soon, with a whole new array of engines! We'll be getting the much juicier XK, and XK-R with an engine trumping 500hp in the USDM!!!!!
Reply
Quan 3:45PM (8/15/2008)
It can't compete with sports cars like Porsches in the U.S. so instead they send it to Britain and Germany to compete with... Porsche, BMW, AMG, Audi, and Aston Martin. Brilliant.
Reply
BoxerFanatic-formerlyMK 5:26PM (8/16/2008)
Those are gorgeous wheels.
The car itself is very nice, although slightly too flat on the front, and no manual, even on an R-S model. not great.
To be brutally honest... I'd search out a set of those wheels for an Aston Martin V8 Vantage, and call it good. These wheels are much better than Vantages' new shoes.
but it does somewhat suck that Ford, an american company just sold Jaguar, and the new owners, in short order, deny the US market a premium variant of a car designed under Ford's watch. It is a trim line, so it isn't exactly that it doesn't pass regs. Oh, well. I guess Germany and Britain get a bone this time.
Reply