Estimated Price: £140,000 - £160,000

There are few modern Jaguars with a provenance quite like this. Offered directly from the personal collection of Harry Metcalfe, this 2018 Jaguar XE SV Project 8 has been owned by Harry from new, has featured regularly on his hugely popular Harry’s Garage YouTube channel, and represents a fascinating link to the origins of one of Jaguar Special Vehicle Operations’ most ambitious projects.

The XE SV Project 8 was conceived as an uncompromising performance saloon, combining Jaguar’s supercharged 5.0-litre V8 with all-wheel drive, extensive carbon-fibre bodywork, bespoke suspension and motorsport-inspired aerodynamics. Hand-assembled by SVO, the Project 8 was capable of 200mph and was developed with the intention of creating one of the most extreme road-going Jaguars ever built.

At its heart lies Jaguar’s AJ133 90-degree V8, with an aluminium block and cylinder heads enhanced by a Roots-type twin-vortex twin-stream supercharger complete with dual water-to-air intercoolers and a lightweight Titanium Variable Active Exhaust System. The numbers are impressive with a claimed 592bhp (believed to be 620bhp at the crank) and 516 lb-ft of torque fed through an eight-speed automatic transmission and an advanced all-wheel-drive system, offering 0-60mph in 3.3 seconds on its way to 200mph, undoubtedly the fastest road-legal Jaguar saloon ever built and a defining statement from SVO about just how far the humble XE platform could be taken.

Whilst it may still be recognisable as an XE saloon, only the front doors and roof are carried over from the production XE, with the rest of the panels subtly (and some not-so-subtly) sculpted and modified before being made out of lightweight carbon fibre. Carbon fibre panels include the front wings (to accommodate the larger wheels etc.), bumpers with enhanced cooling ducts, the bonnet, front air splitter, side skirts, adjustable rear spoiler, rear diffuser and adjustable rear aerodynamic wing. The result was the lightest V8 saloon in the range combined with lift reduced by 205% and a claimed 122kg of downforce at 186mph.

The interior features gloss carbon fibre trim as well as Alcantara on the rim of the Project 8 sport steering wheel, instrument binnacle and door cards. The 8-speed 'Quickshift' transmission can either be operated by aluminium paddles behind the steering wheel or by a central ‘Pistol' shift lever.

The Project 8 was undoubtedly very special, however, there are always a few customers keen to acquire something 'a little more special' and for those discerning souls, choosing a "Bespoke by SVO" configuration was the way for collectors to completely bypass the standard factory catalogue and create a one-of-one custom build encompassing a vast array of colours and finishes, bespoke graphics and personalised interiors.

Production was ultimately limited to just 200 cars worldwide, all left-hand drive, of which only 35 were allocated to the UK. Of those UK cars, just 27 were specified with the four-seat, non-Track Pack configuration, making this example particularly unusual in its specification. Rarer still is its finish: only seven of the 35 UK cars were commissioned with bespoke paint, and this is the only Project 8 finished in Merlin Purple.

For Harry Metcalfe, however, the significance of this particular Project 8 goes considerably deeper than its specification. He was an external consultant and Executive Advisor to the Special Vehicle Operations Team during the early concept and development of the Project 8, assisting and taking a close interest in the work being carried out during the car’s multi-year development cycle.

As a result of his involvement with the project, Harry was fortunate enough to secure what he was told was the first customer car, with any cars built before it understood to have been development vehicles. There is no factory documentation currently available to independently confirm its exact position in the production sequence, but its early place in the Project 8 story forms an important part of the car’s provenance.

Since then, Harry has owned the car continuously from new, with its ownership journey extensively documented through numerous appearances on Harry’s Garage including The Dyno Verification, The Real "Track Mode" Experiment and The 200 mph Autobahn Run featuring in road trips, track driving, engineering discussions and detailed examinations of the Project 8, providing this particular example with an unusually detailed history and, with 19,904 miles recorded, the car has clearly been enjoyed as intended.

It’s accompanied by a Litchfield dyno print-out indicating an output of 620bhp, a two-year ‘Warrantywise Ltd.’ warranty, which commenced in February 2026 and is transferable to the new owner, its current MOT is valid until 21 May 2027 and, adding further appeal, the highly appropriate Cherished Registration ‘P8 SVO’ is generously included with the sale.

The car has been well maintained throughout its life, with a full history and main-dealer servicing up to 2025. The two most recent services have been carried out by respected Jaguar specialist, Tom Lenthall, with the latest completed in August 2026.

After eight years of ownership, Harry has now decided that the time has come for this very special Project 8 to leave his collection. The reason for the sale will be explained by Harry himself in an upcoming video on Harry’s Garage (see video link below), adding another chapter to an ownership story that has already been unusually well documented.

For the collector, this is an unusually complete Project 8 proposition: one of just 35 UK cars, one of only 27 four-seat examples, uniquely finished in Merlin Purple, carrying the appropriate P8 SVO registration and accompanied by a comprehensive history file. Most importantly, it comes directly from the man who was involved with the project during its formative stages and has owned this example from new.

Offered directly from Harry Metcalfe’s personal Collection, this is a rare opportunity to acquire one of Jaguar SVO’s most extraordinary road cars, with provenance that reaches back to the very beginnings of the Project 8 story.