Team-BHP - Replacement for the XK8 / XKR

The Jaguar XKR is a 8 years old. But, it's a work of art - an absolute masterpiece. It's stunning in both looks and operation. Infact, it looks better with every passing day. Its smooth 4.2L supercharged engine puts out 400bhp and a whopping 553Nm (408lb.ft.) of torque. The quad pipes at the rear make an awesome sound. Along with the 911 Turbo and DB9, this car sits firmly in the position of my favourite coupe this side of 200mph. But, as the saying goes, every party has to come to an end. Jaguar plans to replace this beautiful beast with a rather sad looking light aluminium bodied coupe in either late 2005 or early 2006. It's called the X150. It'll be powered by the same V8 as the XKR's except that I believe it will pump out 500bhp or so instead of the current figure.
Here is a pic of the outgoing XKR and the 1st spy pic of the new X150.

Source: Jaguar X150

Eeeks!!!!!

That car looks like a cross b/w a Bentley Continental-GT and an S-type. What's goin on with Jag, have they hired Bangle for his services as well???

And to make matters worse, Jag is planning to shut its UK factory and shift production elsewhere. Is it the end of Jag as we know it? I suppose so.

Revv

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Revvmaster @ Aug. 24 2004,22:59)]And to make matters worse, Jag is planning to shut its UK factory and shift production elsewhere. Is it the end of Jag as we know it? I suppose so.

Ford has decided that 3 members out of 4 of its PAG are loss making units. They are Jaguar, Aston Martin and Land Rover. Volvo is considered the only successful one.
Ford may decide to shut down the legendary Jaguar factory at Coventry and the one at Birmingham for good. That would surely bring more than a tear to my eyes.
Coming back to the X150, Jaguar had made so many beautiful concept cars, so, why the hell did they choose this one for production?

Nooooo...another design icon lost. Though Jags were never very reknowned for performance the same way the Germans are, they held their own when it came to luxury and elegance, and fantastic Grand Tourers. People have always ogled over the E-Types and more recently the XKs. It's such a shame that it is to be replaced by the illegitimate love child(would have been so much easier to just write b******

* ) of a S-Type (one of the more shoddy looking jags), Bentley Continental GT(good looking for just it's own proportions), and as slab sided as the Bangled 5s. Though a ray of hope is that these are just artist's imagination running wild, hopefully.

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Ford has decided that 3 members out of *4 of its PAG are loss making units. They are Jaguar, Aston Martin and Land Rover. Volvo is considered the only successful one.

Porsche is a part of PAG too, and it's definitely making profits.

PS: My 400th post. To put it into perspective, it's as much HP as the Supercharged Jag V8 makes. Can't blame me for going off topic now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Aditya @ Aug. 25 2004,00:09)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Revvmaster @ Aug. 24 2004,22:59)]And to make matters worse, Jag is planning to shut its UK factory and shift production elsewhere. Is it the end of Jag as we know it? I suppose so.

Ford has decided that 3 members out of *4 of its PAG are loss making units. They are Jaguar, Aston Martin and Land Rover. Volvo is considered the only successful one.
Ford may decide to shut down the legendary Jaguar factory at Coventry and the one at Birmingham for good. That would surely bring more than a tear to my eyes.
Coming back to the X150, Jaguar had made so many beautiful concept cars, so, why the hell did they choose this one for production?

To be fair, the Jag facilities are pretty dire, when Ford took over, they felt that they had seen better factories in Russia, hence the Xtype being built in a revamped Ford Facility in Halewood (used to produce Escorts). My guess is that they will use expand the new Aston Martin factory in Gaydon for the XJ, use existing Birmingham factory for S type or move this to Halewood alongside the X type

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Porsche is a part of PAG too, and it's definitely making profits.

Ported i think u need to check this one out pal. Porsche is an independent company. PAG or the Premier Automotive Group is a group of cos. run by Ford. Porsche was never in it. Infact if it ever went to some company, it would be the end of Porsche as u and i know it. Why, it has resisted the charms of even the VW group which has been wanting to take it over since the late 50s, early 60s.

Revv

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Ported i think u need to check this one out pal. Porsche is an independent company. PAG or the Premier Automotive Group is a group of cos. run by Ford. Porsche was never in it. Infact if it ever went to some company, it would be the end of Porsche as u and i know it. Why, it has resisted the charms of even the VW group which has been wanting to take it over since the late 50s, early 60s.

Sorry..my bad. I'm in the habit of referring to Porsche AG as PAG. It was a classic case of humour gone wrong, or not being humourous at all. Guess i'm going to have to start using smilies.

whoa whats goin on. Why is every car manufacturer making all their models look the same. First it was Merc and now its Jaguar. The S-Type, X-Type and now its the XK8 also with 4 round lights. Anyways isnt this the same car that was shown as a prototype(or a concept)...the RD6 in one of the Auto Shows??

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (v12 @ Aug. 28 2004,22:46)]Anyways isnt this the same car that was shown as a prototype(or a concept)...the RD6 in one of the Auto Shows?

No, V12. The car in your picture is the R Coupe concept. Though somewhat similar, It does not look as loopy as the X150. The RD6 is totally different. It has a pretty good front. It's rear portion, however, looks bad.