The Jaguar XJ220 was the British supercar dream of the early 1990s: extraordinarily wide, startlingly fast and born from a project begun by enthusiasts inside Jaguar.
1. It began with the “Saturday Club”
A small group of Jaguar engineers and designers developed the original concept in their own time. Their project became known as the Saturday Club.
2. The concept was shown in 1988
The XJ220 concept appeared at the 1988 British Motor Show and created enough demand for Jaguar to investigate production.
3. The production car changed dramatically
The show car used a V12 and four-wheel drive. The production XJ220 used a mid-mounted twin-turbo V6 and rear-wheel drive.
4. Its 3.5-litre V6 came from racing
The twin-turbo engine was derived from the TWR racing programme and produced 550PS in road-going form.
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5. It was built at Bloxham
JaguarSport, the Jaguar and Tom Walkinshaw Racing joint venture, hand-built the cars at a purpose-built factory in Bloxham, Oxfordshire.
6. It was once the world’s fastest production car
Jaguar recorded 213mph for the XJ220, making it the fastest production car in the world when launched in 1992.
7. Its structure used aluminium honeycomb
The XJ220 combined advanced aluminium-honeycomb construction with aluminium body panels to create a very stiff but relatively light supercar.
8. The name was a target, not a promise
“220” referred to the hoped-for 220mph top speed. The finished car fell just short, but its verified performance was still extraordinary.
9. Only 275 production cars were built
Production ran from 1992 to 1994. Jaguar says 275 examples were completed, making it far rarer than its immense cultural profile suggests.
10. The XJ220 S was even wilder
The lighter XJ220 S used motorsport-derived parts, carbon-fibre body panels and a claimed 700PS—an extreme final variation on an already extreme car.
