The poor XJ220.
When the XJ220 was concieved, is was expected to carry a super-tuned version of the Jag V12, but the weight penalty would have been too much. So, Jaguar followed Ferrari's lead in using a smaller, race-derived engine running at high boost. (But Jag used a V6 instead of a V8, like Ferrari.) While the choice of a smaller engine was justfied for the design goals of the car, it just didn't have the glamour of the V12. After all, "real" supercars have V12 engines.
The "220" was supposed to be a promise of its top speed, but its speeds of 212-213 with emissions equipment, and speeds of 217-218 mph with the catalytic converters removed, somehow were less impressive when compared to the 220 target.
And then, as Chris already mentioned, the economy went down the crapper. Many of the potential buyers were actually speculators, hoping to re-sell the cars at a profit. But when the real buyers started to back out, Jaguar had a hard time finding anyone to take their car.
And to top it all off, about the same time the McLaren F1 was released. Faster, fancier and more expensive, the XJ220 was doomed.
Poor thing. We should all try to find one a good home. :silly2: