1998 Jaguar Xj8 Base Sedan 4-door 4.0l on 2040-cars

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Jaguar-Land Rover builds millionth vehicle at Halewood

Jaguar-Land Rover is not what you'd call a volume automaker by any stretch of the imagination. But in the dozen years since it started manufacturing at its Halewood plant near Liverpool, England, the automaker has already built its millionth vehicle.
The landmark vehicle is a Range Rover Evoque, done up in white with red roof and mirrors, black wheels and a red and black interior. The crossover is set to be donated to Cancer Research UK, which will auction it off next year to help fund its projects in the north-west of the country.
Halewood started manufacturing the Jaguar X-Type in 2001, then went on to assemble the Land Rover LR2 / Freelander 2 before taking on production of the Evoque a year and a half ago. The facility reached the 300,000-unit milestone just last year as production moved to a 24-hour cycle for the first time in either marque's history.

Ecurie Ecosse collection brings in millions

It's rare to see an entire racing team's collection go up for auction at once, but that's just what happened this past weekend at Bonhams' new headquarters in London, where there Ecurrie Ecosse collection brought in top dollar (or pound, anyway).
The collection, whose consignment we first reported on back in September, included a smattering of Jaguars, other classic racers and an iconic transporter truck, all decked out in the same blue and white livery of the Scottish flag. After reportedly feverish bidding on Sunday, the 1952 Jaguar C-Type sold for £2,900,000 ($4.75m), the '56 short-nose D-Type for another £2,600,000 ($4.26m), and the transporter for a shocking £1,800,000 (nearly $3 million) - all to the same unnamed American collector. A 1952 Jaguar XK120 roadster went to another buyer for a record £707,000 ($1.16m).
With Ringo Star's Facel Vega selling for £337,500 ($550k) and Michael Schumacher's Benetton B194 fetching another £617,500 (just over a million), the auction total skyrocketed to £16,861,630 ($2.75m), which Bonhams described as "a roaring success". Scope out the press release below for more info.

Are you the Jaguar F-Type Coupe R-S?

It's no secret that Jaguar is working on a fixed-roof version of the F-Type roadster, but now it looks like it's also developing a high-performance model for said coupe. Captured sharpening its claws at the Nürburgring, this F-Type Coupe prototype could very well be an R-S or even a more track-ready R-S GT variant.
Our biggest clue suggesting the latter are its massive brake rotors with bright-yellow calipers - similar pieces are also found on the recently introduced XKR-S GT. This would make sense, since a report in May said that Jaguar is looking to create a full line of R-S GT models in a similar fashion as the Mercedes-Benz AMG Black Series. Missing from this prototype, though, are the telltale aero add-ons we seen on the XKR-S GT - go-faster bits like the latter's front fascia winglets and rear wing, though this model is obviously still being developed. Regardless of what this new grippier, quicker kitty is called, we say "Yes, please."