Jaguar XKR-S Convertible: The quickest convertible Jag ever

Jaguar XKR-S Convertible - the fastest ever drop-top Cat

Jaguar confirmed last week that they were taking the convertible version of the XKR-S to the Los Angeles Auto Show for a debut in the sun this week. And here it is.

Resplendent in an LA friendly trendy white paint job, the XKR-S Convertible looks for all the world exactly what we’d expect – an XKR-S with a soft top.

It gets the same 5.0 litre supercharged V8 with 524bhp as its tin-top sibling, which Jaguar promise will give the same performance as the coupe XKR-S – which is 0-62mph in 4.4 seconds – despite gaining around 40kg thanks to some rigidity boosting.

But that 40kg of extra weight is a lot less than it would have been had the XKR not been conceived from the off as a convertible. In fact, Jaguar are keen to tell us that the XKR-S Convertible boasts a torsional rigidity of 16,500NM per degree (no, we have no idea of comparisons either).

What that means is that the convertible XKR-S gets no compromises, so you get the new aluminium front steering knuckle, revised geometry and beefed-up springs you get in the coupe. It seems the only tweak Jaguar has had to make is to stiffen the dampers at the back to compensate for the lack of a roof.

Jaguar hasn’t come up with a price for the soft-top XKR-S yet, but it will push over the £1000k mark, and probably arrive in time for Summer 2012.

(12 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK