Following the success of the Jaguar Project 7 and Project 8, Jaguar’s Special Vehicle Operations is already working on its latest creation. Nothing is known about the car at the moment, but John Edwards, the boss of SVO, said that it’s coming. That should be good news to those who were left out on getting the F-Type based Project 7 when it was released in 2014 and the XE-based Project 8, which arrived last year.

The Jaguar Project 9 is a go. That much we’re sure of. No less than John Edwards himself — he’s the man calling the shots for SVO — confirmed it to Top Gear. “There will be a Project 9,” he said. “But there’s no decision what it will be yet.

That’s the million-dollar question at this point. What does Jaguar and its Special Vehicle Operations unit have in store for the Project 9? Edwards was coy in giving too many details, but he did say that the model “doesn’t necessarily have to be high-performance.”

That opens up the possibilities, especially since both the Project 7 and Project 8 were performance-based by nature. The latter, in particular, features a 5.0-liter supercharged V-8 engine that produces 592 horsepower, all of which are sent to the car’s four wheels. It also features a handful of aerodynamic features, including a flat underbody, an adjustable front splitter, and a rear wing.

Combine that with an adjustable suspension system, and you’re looking at a car that can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds and hit a top speed of 200 mph. Given the fact that SVO is busy improving the car that already became the fastest four-door production car in the Nurburgring with a time of 7:21.23, there’s no telling what the Project 8 is going to be capable of when it hits the streets this year.

Now, what does this have to do with the Project 9? On the surface, the Project 9 should be a completely independent creation from the Project 8. Edwards touched on that when said that SVO is “making up the rules as we go along.” That means that we can expect just about anything as far as this new creation is concerned.

A good possibility would be a hardcore SUV. That would be a departure from the F-Type coupe and E-Type four-door sedan that Jag used to create the Project 7 and Project 8, respectively. An SUV would be a good choice because Jag already has one — the F-Pace — and the segment has become the most profitable one in the industry. What better way to showcase SVO’s prowess than by letting it work on the F-Pace.

If it’s not the F-Pace, another likely choice would be Jag’s range-topping luxury sedan, the XJ. Granted, it would seem overbearing to imagine a performance version of the XJ, but remember, Edwards did say that the Project 9 doesn’t necessarily have to be high-performance. Maybe SVO could switch it up and for a super luxury version of the luxury sedan. It won't be a shock if it takes that route given the fact that we’ve seen similar treatments from other automakers. Bentley’s Mulliner personalization division come to mind.

Regardless of what the Project 9 ends up being, it’s encouraging to know that Jaguar isn’t sitting pretty with both the Project 7 and Project 8. It already knows that SVO is capable of creating these incredible limited-edition machines. Now it’s all about making sure that the department can showcase a little bit of variety.

References

Read our full review on the 2018 Jaguar XE SV Project 8.

Read our full review on the 2013 Jaguar Project 7.

Read more Jaguar news.