From the days Jaguar was cool: a Jaguar XJ Vanden Plas 4.0-V8 Supercharged, seen on an ice cold winter day in Beijing in 2018. The great Jag’ looked great in black and Beijing dust!
The Vanden Plas was an extra luxurious variant of the X308 Jaguar XJ (1997-2002). The Jaguar Vanden Plas name was used in just a few markets, mainly in North America. In Europe it was sold under the Daimler name. The Vanden Plas 4.0 Supercharged was the top-spec car. It is very rare, only 788 examples were ever made. And one ended up in Beijing!
The alloys needed a bit of polishing!
Power came from a 4.0 litre V8 engine with a supercharger bolted on. Output was an impressive 370 hp and 525 Nm. All horses went to the rear wheels via a Mercedes-Benz five-speed automatic transmission.
The interior was in style, with lots of creamy leather and dark brown wood. I met the car in front of a repair shop that maintains lots of older British and German cars.
The X308 XJ was not officially sold in China. Official XJ sales only started with the X350 XJ. Still, there are quite a few X308’s around but this was the first Vanden Plas version I had ever seen in country.
Space for ages and wooden tray tables. That is how a Jaguar should be.
The license plate area is too small for the Chinese plate, indicating this car came here via the United States.
Note speedy Benz on the left. I’ll get back to it in another story soon.
Always a work of art. The hood ornament and the badge just below it. Sadly, the Jaguar brand isn’t very popular in China. The cars are considered way to thirsty and old fashioned on the inside. The joint venture with Chery hasn’t worked out very well either.
The electric I-Pace, which could have changed Jaguar’s fortunes in China, isn’t made locally and thus way too expensive. Too bad, too bad. But at least we know there is a fantastic XJ Vanden Plas 4.0-V8 Supercharged around, somewhere on the capital’s endless roads.
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