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When oil prices are high, the Persian Gulf states are responsible for a fair volume of demand filling up the world’s supercar order books.
These oil-dollar buyers are not all authentic petrolheads though.
Many purchase vogue supercars simply for their image appeal. When the ownership experience requires some effort, they’ll easily turf out some rather exotic supercar machinery on the street. Think we’re joking? Well…
Witness the case of this Jaguar XJ220, spotted in Qatar, gathering dust and being sand blasted by strong desert winds.
Not a pretty sight, now is it?
Impeccable credentials, undignified position
Jaguar’s supercar – although eventually eclipsed by McLaren’s F1 – ushered in the modern supercar era.
The XJ220’s arresting styling (by South African born Keith Helfet) and performance potential nearing the 350km/h threshold ensure it of a very special place in automotive history. This, it would appear, means nothing to the good people of Qatar though.
The XJ220 in question is one of only 281 ever made (number 132, in fact) and nearly two decades after being assembled, still only has 900km on the clock – which means it’s a veritable classic in the waiting.
We can only hope a European collector jets out to Qatar soon to rescue it from its rather terrible fate – being left to waste out on a backroad in Qatar.
These oil-dollar buyers are not all authentic petrolheads though.
Many purchase vogue supercars simply for their image appeal. When the ownership experience requires some effort, they’ll easily turf out some rather exotic supercar machinery on the street. Think we’re joking? Well…
Witness the case of this Jaguar XJ220, spotted in Qatar, gathering dust and being sand blasted by strong desert winds.
Not a pretty sight, now is it?
Impeccable credentials, undignified position
Jaguar’s supercar – although eventually eclipsed by McLaren’s F1 – ushered in the modern supercar era.
The XJ220’s arresting styling (by South African born Keith Helfet) and performance potential nearing the 350km/h threshold ensure it of a very special place in automotive history. This, it would appear, means nothing to the good people of Qatar though.
The XJ220 in question is one of only 281 ever made (number 132, in fact) and nearly two decades after being assembled, still only has 900km on the clock – which means it’s a veritable classic in the waiting.
We can only hope a European collector jets out to Qatar soon to rescue it from its rather terrible fate – being left to waste out on a backroad in Qatar.
