The Jaguar XE SV Project 8, developed by the in-house Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) team, just set a new record lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife, thus becoming the fastest four-door production sedan in the world.

The XE SV Project 8 production-intent prototype completed the lap in 7 minutes and 21.23 seconds, almost 11 seconds quicker than the previous record made by Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio.

Speaking of the acheivement, Director of Jaguar Land Rover’s SVO Division Mark Stanton said, “The SVO design and engineering team’s mission was to create the most track-focused road-legal Jaguar in history – not only the fastest, but also the most agile. As a result, only the roof and front door skins of Project 8’s body are carried-over unaltered from XE and 75 per cent of its mechanical hardware is new. This astonishing Nürburgring Nordschleife record validates the success of such extensive changes.”

The XE SV Project 8 was first introduced earlier this year. Limited to 300 examples worldwide, it features a supercharged 5.0-litre V8 with 591 hp, allowing the car to accelerate to 97 km/h in just 3.3 seconds and have a top speed of 322 km/h.