Jaguar XKR Speed and Black packs

Last year the Jaguar XFR got a huge amount of attention. Sporting an all new 5.0 litre supercharged V8 with direct injection, and boasting 500bhp. It is a worthy rival to the Super saloons from BMW's M division and the Mercedes hot rods from AMG.

Perhaps in a slight PR own goal Jaguar launched the revisd XKR at the same time sporting the same engine (I'm sure someone with a greater knowledge of PR will tell me whether it is better to launch two models at the same time or spread them out to gain more column inches in the motoring press)?

To keep interest in the XKR alive, at the recent Geneva show Jaguar unveiled two option packs the Speed and Black (curiously borrowing names from Bentley and Mercedes). The Speed raises the top speed of the car to 174mph (the standard car is governed to 155mph) and adds a relatively subtle body kit and rear diffuser.  If your not a fan of subtle you can add the Black pack which offers a lot more colour coding, unique alloys and a dubious side decal.

I'm a fan of the XKR, which is in my opinion is one of the coolest cars on sale today, It's a very pretty car if somewhat derivative of the Aston DB9 (also styled by Ian Callum). I'm not sure if the front gills added when the new engines were dropped in add anything to the looks but they do give the car more gravitas. 

The Speed pack does add something to the car and perhaps gives the car more sporting credibility against its key rivals the Maserati Gran Turismo and even the long shadow cast over this sector of the market by the Porsche 911.  The Black pack (shown in the promo above)  I'm less convinced about as Jaguars are more about subtlety than brassness. The white shown in the Video doesn't really suit the car either. The XKR looks best in dark Metallics.

As a petrolhead in my thirties I can see myself buying an XKR which must please Jag's marketing men (I was also a fan of their much criticised Gorgeous advertising campaign) but what Jaguar really needs is a smaller cheaper coupe to appeal to the younger generation. Rumours of an XF based XE sound promising, hopefully this will be the car to tempt my generation out of their Cayman's, and TT's