New Jaguar Features All-Out Speed, Price

British luxury car maker Jaguar, shifting gears after its recent agreement to a takeover by Detroit’s Ford Motor Co., announced plans Thursday to produce a new 200-m.p.h. sports model to compete with Ferrari and Porsche.

The Jaguar XJ220 will cost $587,000 (366,850 pounds) and production will be limited to an initial 220 cars, or at most 350 if there is enough interest. But the car will not be available in the United States because it will meet only European specifications.

Jaguar said the XJ220 is designed to compete with the Porsche 959 and the Ferrari F40, which cost several hundred thousand pounds. It will be a four-wheel-drive sports car, powered by a V6 turbo racing engine and capable of reaching 60 m.p.h. in 3.5 seconds--quicker acceleration than the Porsche 959--and 100 m.p.h. in 8 seconds.

Jaguar Chairman Sir John Egan announced plans for the new super car just two days after the $2.6 billion (1.6 billion pound) takeover of the company by Ford was finalized.

“The public response to the XJ220 concept car has been overwhelming,” Egan said.

Jaguar unveiled a prototype of the XJ220 last year, but the Coventry-based firm feared that it would never go on sale because flagging profits would prevent production.

Customers are being asked to put down a deposit of $80,000 (50,000 pounds) but will have to wait until 1992 before the first models roll off the production line.

The wait could be worth it for the auto enthusiast with plenty of money.

The Times of London estimated that collectors would be prepared to pay $1.6 million (1 million pounds) for one of the cars because of the tiny production run.