With just over 500 hp on tap in the latest Nurburgring taxi, the Jaguar XJ Supersport feeds thrill-seekers adrenaline through a 5.0-liter supercharged V8 engine.

As the latest automaker to offer such a service, Jaguar decided to send the XJ Supersport, with Sport and Speed Pack options, to offer passengers a chance to feel the “Green Hell” as it’s meant to be experienced: with a wide open throttle.

Previously, we brought you a story about BMW offering the M5 in a similar capacity, but now Jaguar is copying the idea. While the XJ won’t be able to compete with the BMW’s 560 hp, the ride might feel a bit more thrilling because of it’s all-aluminum chassis. It’s likely to be more comfortable too.

When it was first released, auto pundits praised the XJ for its surprisingly nimble handling which is a direct result of the chassis design.

“Of these models, we found it’s the XJ Supersport that most often surprises journalists with its speed simply because they perceive it to be a large luxury car. The XJ is both those things, of course, but its aluminium architecture means it’s rigid and lightweight too, which make it a very good car on track. To underline that fact, our engineering team created this special Nürburgring taxi version in which our trained drivers can safely take passengers on very hot laps,” Jaguar Land Rover exec Frank Klaas said.

Departing from the decreasingly voluminous engine trend that is presently plaguing or progressing the auto industry, depending on your perspective, it seems Jaguar will offer a 5.0-liter  V8 in its F-Type. 

GALLERY: Jaguar F-Type roadster

Previous we reported that the automaker would offer its newest addition with both a supercharged 2.0-liter inline four and 3.0-liter V6 featuring the same brando f forced induction. The smaller version would produce 240 hp while the supercharged V6 would make 380.

Refusing to leave well-enough alone, someone at Jaguar told Inside Line that a 5.0-liter V8 will also be shoehorned under the hood, though details beyond that don’t seem to be available.

Should it make an appearance, it will likely be the same powerplant found in the XK, capable of 550 hp and 502 lb-ft of torque. While 550 hp isn’t staggering compared to cars like the 2013 Shelby GT500 which makes a confirmed 662 hp for around $50,000, the F-Type will be no American muscle car.

Don’t forget that Ford didn’t engineer its bulky beast to run with a four-banger. Jaguar did. That probably means driving a V8-powered F-Type will be more akin to a a “Monster Miata,” powered by a 5.0-liter Mustang V8 than a similarly-equipped muscle car.

[Source: Inside Line]

Simon Butler, affectionately known as the “Racing Reverend” as well as the Associate Rector of Ashtead Parish of Surrey, England, started racing in karting leagues at an early age. “I think I’m the only Anglican clergyman who has ever driven a modern Formula 1 car, but this will be my first experience in the historics,” Butler admits. “The C-type is owned by one of my parishioners, Tony Allen, and he invited me to share the car with Jonathon Crouch for the full series of Woodcote Trophy races.”

The backstory behind the 1952 C-type is perhaps even more interesting. Painted in a French racing blue, chassis number XKC 016 was originally supplied to a French Jaguar importer. When it competed in the Mille Miglia in 1953, a brutal crash killed driver Pierre Gilbert Ugnon and seriously injured team-mate Luc Descollanges.

According to Butler, the damaged C-type was then left abandoned in a yard for almost 20 years before it was painstakingly restored, piece-by-piece, in the 1970s. Since then, it has enjoyed many years of racing.

Known for its fast and fiercely competitive nature, the Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy poses a true challenge for the Reverend. Addressing his level of confidence, Butler said, “Historic cars have no brakes! Seriously, though, I’ve really enjoyed the transition to historics, so much so that I might not go back. With a historic car, you need to keep it moving around a lot; there’s still a lot of precision needed, but it’s a different sort of precision.”

The first Woodcote Trophy race will be held at Donington Historic Festival from May 5-6. Races to follow include the Brands Hatch GP circuit, the Silverstone Classic, as well as the Spa Six-Hours Meeting in September.

Donington will be a home race for Reverend Simon Butler, as his previous parish is just 15 miles from the circuit, at West Bridgford in Nottinghamshire.

Following the industry trend toward smaller, more efficient engines, Jaguar just announced its plan to offer two new engines, one of which will make its way into the new F-Type roadster. 

A 3.0-liter supercharged V6 will sit under the F-Type’s hood to produce 380 hp. Using the same aluminum architecture currently found in the brand’s V8 engines, the company said the new V6 will perform comparably to its naturally aspirated V8 brother. Spray-guided direct injection will also help to keep power delivery smooth.

Even with its high output, the engine is expected to manage reasonable fuel economy thanks to an eight-speed automatic transmission, which will feature wide-spread gear ratios to give the F-Type a long-legged driving feel. That fuel economy will be further aided by a high compression ratio and start/stop technology that uses a twin solenoid starter capable of starting the car faster than the driver can move from the brake to gas pedal.

The second engine being introduced is a 2.0-liter supercharged inline four cylinder that follows the V6 with the same aluminum construction and eight-speed automatic transmission. Making 240 hp at 5,500 rpms, the engine offers a new peak in efficiency, thanks in part to a new friciton-reducing coating inside the cylinders.

GALLERY: Jaguar F-Type roadster

Run-of-the-mill Jaguar XJ not good enough for you? Not even the $111,000 Supersport version? Better dig deep into your pockets for the XJ Ultimate Edition.

Last year Range Rover introduced its Autobiography Ultimate Edition which became the most expensive Land Rover made. Even though official pricing hasn’t been announced, we expect the XJ Ultimate Edition to follow a similar path, possibly boasting a price tag upwards of $175,000.

Despite the Land Rover boasting such an exorbitant price tag, it quickly sold out and clearly the success has allowed the British automaker to do the same with its XJ model. Among the car’s luxury features, there are two separate, fully-reclining seats in the rear along with aluminum folding tables and space to serve your favorite champagne.

Embedded behind the seats are built-in Apple iPads, similar to what was in the Range Rover Ultimate, to provide entertainment. If Apple’s tablet isn’t good enough, passengers can also watch entertainment on the TVs in the headrests. Since the XJ Ultimate Edition is clearly intended for transporting passengers, the suspension has been modified to give a more comfortable, softer ride. Engine choices will, however, be the same as the standard XJ model.

GALLERY: Jaguar XJ Ultimate Edition

Booze flows, cigarettes are smoked and secretaries snogged on a regular basis during an episode of AMC’s popular show Mad Men, but it came as surprise to Jaguar when the automaker found itself the center of attention in last Monday’s installment. 

Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, the fictional ad agency which the plot is built around, tries to win Jaguar as a client.

“We did not have any role in the creation of the Jaguar brand storyline in the AMC television show ‘Mad Men,’ though we did enjoy seeing the Jaguar brand make a cameo,” said a company spokesperson to Automotive News. “Certainly, Jaguar, and especially the Jaguar E-Type, was one of the enduring iconic images of that era.”

Indeed, Jags were sex symbol cars at the time, prompting the comment from main character Don Draper: “I think a man getting out of a Jaguar needs a cold shower… The Jaguar XKE is pornographic.”

In true Mad Men fashion, sex is at the center of the episode and predictably spoils the deal when the Jaguar executive’s wife finds chewing gum on his private regions after returning from a brothel.

[Source: Automotive News]

British luxury and sports car maker Jaguar is often associated with older clientele. To help break it out of that stereotype, and to attract a younger, hipper audience; Jaguar enlisted the help of a grafitti artist.

Mr. Kaves, who is known for his free-hand style spray paint designs was given a brand new XKR as his blank canvas. The end result is a  Jaguar unlike anything you’ve seen before.

On hand at the unveiling was the man who designed the XKR, Ian Callum, who praised Mr. Kaves for his art work. This might just be a publicity stunt, but it will surely attract an audience that normally would not spend time admiring a Jaguar.

While this might be the latest art car, it is not the first. BMW has had art cars since the 1970′s; and a few years ago, Infiniti presented their G37 coupe art car, which was later sold at an auction for $55,000 (proceeds from which went to ONE DROP, a charity founded by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte).

To get a glimpse of how the Jaguar art car was created, check out the video below.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

At the 2012 New York Auto Show, Jaguar showed off a F-Type Roadster test mule, and rough details on when to expect the production model’s debut. Now, clearer photos of the test mule than our cameras could capture from the screen during the press release are available.

Based on the British automaker’s C-X16 concept, the all-new Jaguar F-Type sports car development has been accelerated based on all the positive feedback from the concept model. The F-Type will originally launch as a convertible, two-seater focused on rewarding its driver. Jaguar plans on offering a range of standard gasoline engines to power the F-Type, including a new powerplant family.

“That car will be called the F-Type, and it will be unveiled in production form later this year. The core appeal of Jaguar’s cars is their sporting heart, and that heart will beat stronger than ever before in the F-Type. Its development is a vivid representation of the confidence and ambition of the Jaguar brand, and the desire amongst our engineers and design team to produce a world-leader in a market segment that we have been absent from for too long. But no longer — the F-Type is coming,” said Adrian Hallmark, Global Brand Director of Jaguar Cars.

The F-Type is already on its final on-road testing phase and engineering prototypes are coming out of Jaguar’s Castle Brownwich plant which is where the production models will be produced. Full technical details and model ranges will be announced later this year. The F-Type will be on sale in mid-2013.

Hallmark also confirmed during the conference that the production model will be nearly identical to the concept we saw during last year’s Frankfurt Auto Show, a gallery of which you can click through below.

GALLERY: Jaguar F-Type Official Photos

GALLERY: Jaguar C-X16 Concept

Absence from the New York Auto Show today didn’t stop the new Jaguar F-Type from stealing the show.

Instead of a traditional teaser, Jaguar poked fun at the spy photographers publications rely on by offering them a break from hanging out in trees. Instead, those attending the press conference saw a short video featuring plenty of footage with a “properly camouflaged” test mule flying around a track.

While mechanical details weren’t released on the F-Type, Jaguar global brand director Adrian Hallmark said during the conference that the F-Type would remain almost entirely true to the C-X16 unveiled last September.

While that car debuted in coupe format as the automaker’s first foray into the two-seater market since the early 90′s, Hallmark also said the F-Type will initially debut as a convertible. Furthermore, he said the production model will be unveiled later this year.

We can report that the F-Type will have a top speed over 180 mph. Engine specs weren’t included but last year we learned that the concept this car will be closely based on would sprint from 0-62 mph (100 km/h) in 4.4 seconds. It achieves that with a 380-hp 3.0-liter supercharged V6.

It isn’t clear if the production model will be a hybrid like the C-X16 concept, but it seems reasonable given how many other automakers are integrating the technology into future sports cars.

Better fuel mileage is one benefit, but another will be improved weight distribution thanks to the battery pack being mounted at the rear. In the concept that meant perfect 50-50 balance, though that might change with the convertible.

Expect more information to become available as the official unveil approaches.

GALLERY: Jaguar C-X16 concept

With the advent of hybrids and electric vehicles, many skeptics thought the age of high-performance sports car would die out. Reality couldn’t be any more different, as America has more than 70 cars on sale today that make 500-hp or more.

The number of vehicles pushing out 500-hp or more has nearly doubled in the last five years. What is more remarkable is more than a decade ago, there were just two vehicles in the club: the Ferrari 575M and the Lamborghini Murcielago. Now Ferrari alone has four models pushing out over 500-hp.

The ability to pump out so much horsepower has been aided by the leaps and bounds that engineering and technology has made over the last decade. Automakers are now able to equip their vehicles with smaller, more fuel efficient engines, which thanks to forced induction, can reliably crank out plenty of peak horsepower.

[Source: Autoweek]

Currently there are 18 manufacturers selling vehicles with more than 500-hp in the United States. And while the semi-exclusive club used to be reserved by German contributors such as Mercedes-Benz‘s AMG performance division and BMW‘s M vehicles, both American and Japanese companies have joined in over the recent years with contributions.

Chevrolet for example has its new Camaro ZL1 to go along with its famed Corvettes, while rival Ford is pushing out its 650-hp Shelby GT500. Japan on the other hand, only has its Nissan GT-R and the more recent Lexus LFA as part of the club.

The big question is whether or not automakers will hit a horsepower ceiling, or if bragging rights will continue to make performance vehicles push the limits on reasonable horsepower.

“Everyone is wondering where this is going,” said Filip Brabec, head of product planning for Audi of America. “If you project the trend, will we drive 1,000-hp cars in 10 years? It is about what the technology can allow you to do for thrill and performance, and it’s about refinement as well. Who knows, we could take that performance down into a lower segment one of these days.”

Check out the full list of cars sold in the U.S. with 500-hp or more below.

+500 Horsepower Cars on sale in the U.S.A

Aston Martin

DBS coupe & convertible (510 hp)

V-12 Vantage (510 hp)

Audi

R8 V-10 (525 hp)

A8 6 W-12 (500 hp)

R8 coupe & spyder (525 hp)

R8 GT coupe & spyder (560 hp)

2013 S8 (520 hp) (summer launch)

Bentley

Continental GT, GTC, Flying Spur (567 hp)

Continental Flying Spur Speed (600 hp)

Continental Supersports convertible (621 hp)

Continental Supersports IRS convertible (631 hp)

Mulsanne (505 hp)

2013 GT and GTC (500 hp) (new V-8)

BMW

Alpina B7 (500 hp)

2013 M5 coupe & convertible (560 hp) (summer launch)

X5 M (555 hp)

X6 M (555 hp)

M6 coupe & convertible (560 hp)

760Li (535 hp)

Cadillac

CTS-V sedan, wagon, coupe (556 hp)

Chevrolet

Camaro ZL1 (580 hp)

Corvette Z06 (505 hp)

Corvette ZR1 (638 hp)

Ferrari

458 Italia (558 hp)

458 Spider (558 hp)

FF (651 hp)

F12 Berlinetta (740 hp)

Ford

2012 Mustang Shelby GT500 coupe & convertible (550 hp)

2013 Mustang Shelby GT500 coupe & convertible (650 hp)

Jaguar

XFR (510 hp)

XKR coupe & convertible (510 hp)

Jaguar XKR-S coupe & convertible (550 hp)

Lamborghini

Aventador (700 hp)

Gallardo (553-562 hp)

Land Rover

Range Rover Sport Supercharged (510 hp)

Range Rover Supercharged (510 hp)

Lexus

LFA (552 hp)

McLaren

MP4-12C (592 hp)

Maybach

57 and 62 (543 hp)

57S and 62S (620 hp)

Mercedes-Benz

C63 AMG Black Series (510 hp)

CL600 (510 hp)

CL63 AMG (536 hp)

CL65 AMG (621 hp)

CLS63 AMG (518 hp)

E63 AMG (518 hp)

E63 AMG wagon (518 hp)

ML63 AMG (518 hp)

G55 AMG (500 hp)

SLS AMG coupe (563 hp)

SLS AMG roadster (563 hp)

S600 (510 hp)

S63 AMG (536 hp)

S65 AMG (621 hp)

2013 SL63 (530 hp) (July launch)

2013 SL65 AMG (612 hp) (fall launch)

Nissan

GT-R (545 hp)

Porsche

Porsche Panamera Turbo (500 hp)

Panamera Turbo S (550 hp)

911 Turbo S (530 hp)

Cayenne Turbo (500 hp)

Rolls-Royce

Ghost (563 hp)

The popular Xbox racing simulator Forza Motorsport 4 has had monthly add-ons ever since it came out in October 2011. For April though they’ve released another car-pack featuring 10 very different and very interesting cars to play with.

The Aplinestars Pack features a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, fully decked out in racing livery. Gamers should be happy to note that 9 other interesting vehicles are included in the pack. For 560 Microsoft Points (about $7) you’ll get access to the 2011 Mercedes-Benz #35 Black Falcon SLS AMG GT3, 2011 Aston Martin #009 Aston Martin Racing AMR One, 2012 Jaguar XKR-S, 1995 BMW M5, 2011 Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S, 1985 Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE, 1972 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3, 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible, 2012 Scion tC and 1997 Volvo 850 R.

Turn10 studio, the company behind Forza Motorsport 4 has provided a cool trailer for the upcoming add-on, which will be available April 3. Check it out below.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Luxury auto makers are all flocking to the Chinese market, and Jaguar Land Rover have been lagging behind. Today, they have signed a deal with Chinese automaker Chery to manufacture and sell vehicles in China.

The deal comes after news that Jaguar, and owner Tata motors have been seeking out a deal in the past few weeks.

China is considered one of the largest car markets, and this deal is expected to help boost Jaguar Land Rover sales. The agreement, worth $2.78 Million, is now undergoing a complex approval process.

“This is an important step for JLR and Tata Motors moving forward,” said Vineet Hetamasaria, auto analyst at PINC Research in Mumbai. “Though this is only an agreement, and it will be some time before we see the results.”

The first vehicles expected to be put into production are Land Rovers, and Jaguar vehicles will follow.

We’re wondering if Jaguar is a little too late to the party, since a recent report has indicated that car sales in China have cooled off, dropping 24% in January. Jaguar is clearly thinking that it still has a chance to cash in on the Chinese Market, but the results remain to be seen.

[Source: Automotive News]