Pushy Pussycat

Jaguar’s fiercest feline is even more assertive in SVR specification.

- Andre Lam

JAGUAR has had a real renaissance in recent years, having taken the fight straight to the Germans. But the Brits didn’t have an answer to Germany’s performance divisions, and could only look on as Mercedes-AMG, BMW M GmbH and Audi Sport cranked out some pretty aweinspiring motors.

Now, Jaguar has provided an answer – SVO, short for Special Vehicle Operations.

SVO extends Jaguar Land Rover’s quest for success to the upper end of the premium performance spectrum. 

So far, the revved-up new department has created four special models – Land Rover’s Range Rover Sport SVR and Range Rover SV Autobiography, and Jaguar’s Project 7 (see sidebar on pg 71) and F-Type SVR, the subject of this review.

Extreme machines coming out of JLR’s SVO have the initials SV added to their model names, with SVR used for the highest performance vehicles, whereby R ostensibly stands for Racing.

Jaguar really needed a halo product to crown the F-Type range, and SVO was charged with making something even better than the F-Type R, which only last year was offered with optional all-wheel-drive.

The F-Type R already packs a 5-litre 550bhp supercharged V8. For about 15 percent more moolah, the F-Type SVR adds 25bhp more power and 20Nm more torque, plus a new set of bespoke Pirelli P Zero tyres, uprated suspension (with its rear components massively strengthened), an active aerodynamic wing, a rear valance with more aggressive venturis, and a deeper chin spoiler.