Jaguar XK8 Coupé 1996 - World Of Classic Cars -

Jaguar XK8 Coupé 1996

Jaguar was founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company by Sir William Lyons in 1922 originally making motorcycle sidecars before developing passenger cars. The name was changed to Jaguar after World War II to avoid the unfavourable connotations of the SS initials. Sale to BMC happened in 1966 who, in 1968, merged with Leyland Motor Corporation and became British Leyland. Jaguar cars today are designed in Jaguar Land Rover's engineering centres at the Whitley plant in Coventry and at their Gaydon site in Warwickshire; the manufacturing takes place in Jaguar's Castle Bromwich assembly plant in Birmingham. The Jaguar XK series was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show on 5th March 1996. The first generation of the series, the XK8, replaced the XJS and was available as a coupé and convertible. It was the first eight-cylinder vehicle produced since the Daimler 250. The XK8 came with 17-inch alloy wheels, leather interior, air conditioning, burr walnut trim and side airbags as standard.