With one more day left until the 2016 New York Auto Show (NYIAS) officially kicks off, we found ourselves wandering the Big Apple tonight. We weren't walking around in a completely aimless fashion though. That's because the Agents had places to be.

One of them was at the Jaguar Land Rover media briefing held steps away from the über cool Highline in New York City's trendy Meatpacking District.

2016 New York Auto Show

Tonight, Jaguar took us through a variety of its products in its portfolio. While the main event was the Jaguar F-Type SVR — more on that later — it also covered the Special Vehicle Operations division, the all-new XE, the all-new F-Pace and the company's latest foray into its vintage vehicles, JLR Classic.

Now that we're into spring we're going to see the all-new XE and F-Pace hit showrooms. Both products are going to be incredibly important into the company's future. While the XE may not look particularly daring on the exterior, and from what I've experienced so far its interior isn't all that and a bag of chips, the word on the street is that this thing is an amazing driver's car. We hope so! The F-Pace is expected to be a volume seller and if you ask us a lot of the very attractive C-X17 Concept carried over into the production. Again, the interior, to me, is lacking in terms of quality but we'll see how it connects with the market.

The BIG announcement from Jaguar actually came at the end. This was when Jaguar announced that it has decided to do something that I am pretty sure was considered unthinkable until now. The leaping cat will finish out the production of the XKSS that was cut short by a major factory fire. At the time nine were left to be completed. Well, nine XKSS vehicles will be produced now to make up for lost time.

According to Jaguar, the final nine will be built to the exact specifications as 1957 but the JLR Classic director noted that there is some internal back-and-forth on whether or not the continuation models should or should not have a fuel gauge — the original XKSS didn't.

The remaining nine vehicles will sell for over 1 million GBP and be delivered in the beginning of 2017.


The 2016 New York Auto Show photo galleries are sponsored by Lexus.

2016 New York Auto Show


































































































































Jaguar's press release follows:

Jaguar To Build Iconic XKSS - 'The World's First Supercar'

• Ultra-exclusive sports car to be hand-built by Jaguar Classic
• All nine cars built to exact same specification as those made in 1957, replacing cars lost due to the Browns Lane fire
• Jaguar originally made the XKSS as a road-going version of the Le Mans winning D-type

Jaguar is to build the stunning XKSS as an ultra-exclusive continuation model.

Nine new XKSS's - often referred to by experts as the world's first supercar - will be hand built by Jaguar Classic to the exact specification as they appeared in 1957, replacing the cars lost due to the famous Browns Lane factory fire.

Tim Hannig, Director Jaguar Land Rover Classic, said: "The XKSS occupies a unique place in Jaguar's history and is a car coveted by collectors the world over for its exclusivity and unmistakable design.

"Jaguar Classic's highly skilled team of engineers and technicians will draw on decades of knowledge to ensure each of the nine cars is completely authentic and crafted to the highest quality.

"Our continuation XKSS reaffirms our commitment to nurture the passion and enthusiasm for Jaguar's illustrious past by offering exceptional cars, services, parts and experiences."

The original cars were earmarked for export to the USA, however, just 16 were completed before disaster struck. Now 59 years later, Jaguar is going to build the nine 'lost' XKSS sports cars for a select group of established collectors and customers.

The expertise gained during the construction of the Lightweight E-type project will be transferred to the construction of the nine ultra-exclusive continuations. Each one will be hand-built at Jaguar's new 'Experimental Shop' in Warwick.

Every car will be constructed to the same specifications as those first 16 made in 1957 - every aspect fully certified by Jaguar. The price will be in excess of £1 million.

The story of the XKSS began following Jaguar's three successive Le Mans victories in 1955, 1956 and 1957 with the all-conquering D-type.

After the hat-trick of wins, Sir Williams Lyons took the decision on 14 January 1957 to convert the remaining 25 D-types into road-going versions with several external modifications - creating the world's first super car.

These modifications included the addition of a new higher windscreen, an extra door on the passenger side, taking away the divider between driver and passenger and the removal of the famous fin behind the driver's seat.