Automotive icons · Jaguar XJ220
The XJ220 began
as an after-hours project.
A small group of Jaguar people stayed after work and built a supercar. That is a more interesting beginning than a top-speed figure. The XJ220 emerged from the unofficial ‘Saturday Club’, reached a motor-show stand, and then had to become something people could actually buy. The car changed considerably along the way.
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A dozen people and a very ambitious spare-time activity.
Jaguar’s heritage account traces the idea to engineering director Jim Randle in 1984. Designer Keith Helfet shaped the car, while a group of about a dozen engineers and designers worked outside normal hours. Around forty suppliers contributed. By October 1988, the result was ready for the Birmingham motor show.
The concept had a 6.2-litre V12 and four-wheel drive. It was not originally intended for production. That matters because the first XJ220 was a demonstration of what the group wanted to explore, before it was a vehicle with a production programme behind it.
I keep coming back to that gap. A show car can make its case in one spectacular encounter. A production car has to do the less photogenic work too: repeatable manufacture, durability, service arrangements and compliance with the rules of the markets where it will be sold. Approval to build it changes the assignment.
The feasibility work followed in 1989. The production XJ220 would use a twin-turbo V6 and rear-wheel drive. That is not a minor trim change. It is a different engine layout and a different set of driven wheels, hidden beneath a shape people already associated with the concept.
