April 4, 1996 – Jaguar introduces the XK8

Jaguar introduced a new kitten to their litter on this day in 1996 at the New York Auto Show. The Jaguar XK8, project code X100, was a grand touring model and the first car of the new XK series, although it borrowed lettering from earlier models such as the original XK150 and XK-E

. The XK8 was available as a coupe or convertible and featured Jaguar’s new AJ-V8 4.0 litre engine. The XK8 replaced the XJ-S, which had been in production since 1976. While the XK8 was manufactured through the 2006 model year, the XK series wouldn’t meet the end of production until July of 2014.