The Daimler 2,5 V8/V8-250 was a four-door saloon produced by The Daimler Company Limited in the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1969. It was the first Daimler car to be based on a Jaguar platform, the first with a unit body, and the last to feature a Daimler engine after the company was bought from the Birmingham Small Arms Company by Jaguar Cars in 1960. The engine was the hemispherical head V8 designed by Edward Turner and first used in the Daimler SP250 sports car.
Daimler had previously entered the medium-sized saloon market in 1932 with the Daimler Fifteen, but left the market with the end of production of the Conquest in 1957. Jaguar had bought Daimler primarily to expand their production facilities, and had done little to develop new Daimler models. Stratstone Ltd., Daimler dealers since their founding in 1921, pressed Jaguar to develop a medium-sized saloon to replace the Conquest, which Jaguar agreed to do in exchange for Stratstone dropping their Volkswagen franchise.
The development of the 2,5-litre saloon was initially given few resources. The first prototype was based on an old Jaguar Mark 1 unibody, and once the concept had been proven, a new prototype based on a Mark 2 body shell was built.