After half a century, we’re about to see a brand-new Jensen Interceptor sports car.
Over the years, if you’ve heard of Jensen International Automotive at all, you’ll know it for restoring and restomodding classic Interceptor models. Sometimes, customers even commission cars with modern supercharged V8s or even hybrid powertrains under the hood. Now, though, the company is teasing a completely new model, the Interceptor GTX, of which we’ll see a prototype revealed in the near future.
Per the company’s (brief) statement: “Jensen International reveals the name of its forthcoming all-new, ultra-high-performance car, alongside details of its upcoming launch. Called the Jensen Interceptor GTX, the new vehicle will be globally unveiled in Q2, in the form of a pre-production, ultra-high-performnace special. As Jensen International’s first clean-sheet design, the Interceptor GTX is entirely new from the ground up.” Did you get that it will be an ultra-high-performance sports car?
Now, at the moment we don’t know exactly what that entails. Few technical details are out there in the ether, but two important elements are that it will have an aluminum body and chassis, as well as a V8 engine bespoke to the car. A key partner in the project is another clue: Jeff Qvale, father of former Jensen Motors owner Kjell Qvale. So there’s a personal element here, bringing a classic name only die-hard enthusiasts will likely recognize into the modern age.
The former Jensen Motors originated in 1920s England, first as a coachbuilder before building commercial vehicles under the Jensen name in the 1930s, and sports cars after World War II. The original Interceptor came about in 1950, while the Mark II (shown here) was built between 1966 and 1976. Back then, most of examples of Jensen’s iconic sports car used Chrysler big-block V8s, along with the Italian-styled bodywork in either 2+2 coupe, hatchback or convertible forms.
These days, JIA has grand ambitions, looking to take on Aston Martin among other exotic sports cars with the new Interceptor GTX. We’ll have to wait and see what comes of the debut, but even from a brief glimpse, it looks like the new Interceptor will be a pretty sweet, if exceedingly rare and expensive, revival of a British icon.
