Jag's new bruiser, but where's BMW?

Meet the new high-performance, super-luxurious Jaguar XJR.

Looks mean right?

Set to be officially unveiled at next week’s New York Motor Show, Jaguar has released this image to whet our appetites.

With a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine producing 410kW, the XJR will be the performance flagship of Jag’s XJ range.

Jaguar also says it will be the most focused, agile and responsive XJ ever made.

That’s all well and good, but Jag’s latest foray into the high-performance/luxury market got us thinking.

Where is BMW?

The brand from Munich is renowned for its performance/luxury models, yet it’s mysteriously absent from the high-performance limousine segment.

Audi has the fresh S8, AMG offers two S-class variants (V8TT and V12TT) and now Jaguar, a brand that sells comparatively less models than BMW, has joined the fight.

Yet BMW’s M Division, which has a long history of highly-tuned large sedans, is nowhere to be seen?

Rumours of an M7 are beginning to surface, with talk suggesting a 354kW 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 model could hit the road by 2015, but for now, it looks like BMW is being left behind.