The Mark 2 was a fast and capable saloon in line with Sir William Lyons' 1950s advertising slogan: Grace . . . Space . . . Pace, available with all three versions of the advanced Jaguar XK engine, the 2.4, 3.4, and 3.8 litre.

Introduced in 1959, production of the 3.8 ended in the autumn of 1967, with discounted sales of the 3.4 continuing as the 340 until September 1968, and the 2.4 as the 240 until April 1969.

There was no direct successor to the Mark 2 series. The 3.8 litre Jaguar S-type, an upscaled and refined version of the Mark 2, had already appeared in 1963, well before the first of the Mark 2 models was discontinued. The Jaguar 420, a more powerful and refined version of the S-Type, appeared in 1966. Both of those models remained in production until late 1968, when the Jaguar XJ6 appeared, ostensibly replacing all of them and placed rather midway between them and the larger, more expensive Jaguar Mark X produced since 1961.

The Mark 2 gained a reputation as a capable car among criminals and law enforcement alike; the 3.8 litre model being particularly fast with its 220 bhp (164 kW) engine driving the car from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 8.5 seconds and to a top speed of 125 mph (201 km/h) with enough room for five adults. Popular as getaway cars, they were also employed by the police to patrol British motorways.

A Regency red 1960 Mark 2 was used by Detective Chief Inspector Morse throughout the Inspector Morse television series. The car was given away in 2002 in a competition after the ending of the series and, after resales, in November 2005 was sold for more than £100,000.