Jaguar brings back XKR Portfolio for ’08 encore

Embarrassed by your cooking model Jaguar XKR being overshadowed by fancier fare at the country club car park? Fret no more, for Jaguar Australia has decided to release a second round of last year's very popular XKR Portfolio Limited Edition, giving the discerning (and wealthy) motorist more comfort, more luxury and most importantly of all, more special edition exclusivity.

There's two-tone leather upholstery, an alloy gearlever, Alston headlining, leather-edged floormats and aluminium veneers on the inside, and milled aluminium fender vents, Shadow Grey metallic paint and 20-inch rims on the outside. If you ever tire of looking at it or running your fingers over that decadent interior, then you can always power up the Bowers and Wilkins premium sound system and listen to the sound of opulence. Next thing you know, Jaguar will have developed a way for owners to actually taste luxury.

It's not all about plush accouterments in the XKR Portfolio though. After all, there are some meaty Alcon-developed brakes (the largest and most powerful ever fitted to a production Jag) to slow down the XKR's considerable mass, which is handy for those that want to avoid bending their $246,000 toy around a lamp post. The rest of the mechanical package is exactly the same as the "peasant-spec" XKR, but with all of the Portfolio's leather-clad appointments and Bowers and Wilkins sound system we doubt you'd really care. In fact, from the way Jaguar's press release reads it sounds like the XKR Portfolio is not so much a car as it is an exclusive smoking room at a businessman's club - albeit one that just happens to have a 306kW 4.2-litre supercharged V8 attached to it. It's now on sale in Australia, but if you want one you'd better be quick: with only 10 being made, this is one exclusive kitty.

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