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Jaguar XKR175 kicks off the kid brother mantle at Pebble Beach

Life can't have been easy for Jaguar in the Ford PAG years. Sure, the automaker had an influx of capital to dedicate to development of new models and the fine-tuning of existing ones. And sure, its notorious reliability and quality levels skyrocketed to a near-acceptable level (which is quite far from where they were). But all the same, it had to live in the shadow of their big brother Aston Martin.

The current Tata era, then, must be a breath of fresh air, with no one impeding Jag's upwards growth. Exhibit A: the XKR175. Like its continental (and similarly named) counterpart, the XKR 75, it's been made to celebrate the marque's 75th anniversary. Of course it's based on the XKR, a model of unique feline reflexes that was once impeded in its potential by the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, never mind the DB9. But no more – with AML now under separate ownership, the XKR175 demonstrates just what the British GT is capable of.

We're talking about 510 horsepower and 461 pound-feet of torque from the supercharged V8. We're talking about a beefed-up aero kit, bigger wheels and super-sized brakes. We're talking about an unveiling no less prestigious than the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, so check out the solo image released in the interim and the press release after the jump.

If you like what you see, you'd better call your local dealer now. Because with a limited production run of – you guessed it – 175 examples (15 of which will head north to the land of igloos and maple syrup, the rest to be divided between these United States), you can bet that – even with a $104,500 price tag – demand will outstrip supply. Even Aston Martin will have to stand up and take notice to that.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/12/j...-pebble-beach/