Jaguar’s fasted series-production car, the XKR-S coupe, may well be joined by a convertible edition in the near future. That’s the implication of these spy shots, taken at a confidential location.
The photos show a red Jaguar convertible prototype, bearing the distinctive modified nose and big rear spoiler of the range-topping XKR-S.
Jaguar XKR-S: the 542bhp super-Jag
Jaguar announced the XKR-S at the 2011 Geneva motor show. The XKR-S starts off as an XKR coupe, but receives an extra 32bhp and 40lb ft of torque for the supercharged 5.0-litre V8 engine, along with a thoroughly revised and lowered sports suspension, tweaked exterior styling and lightweight bucket seats in a retrimmed interior. The results were a 0-62 time of 4.2 seconds, top speed of 186mph and all while retaining the standard XKR’s claimed 23mpg economy and 292g/km CO2 figures. CAR’s Chris Chilton has tested the XKR-S and declared it ‘brilliant’.
What’s the logic behind an XKR-S convertible?
Although the XKR-S is a harder-edged and certainly swifter car than the regular XKR, it is far more comfortable than a track-biased machine like the Porsche 911 GT3. An XKR-S cabriolet would give prospective 911 Turbo S, Maserati Gran Cabrio or Aston Martin Volante customers something to think about.
On a more pragmatic level, it would also be an extremely easy way to keep interest in the XK range after the model year updates announced in April 2011.
>>Does a topless XKR-S sound like V8 music to your ears, or Jaguar scraping the barrel of XK model updates? Let us know in the comments section below
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