Aimed at the class of buyer who normally purchased its Jaguar equivalent, it was claimed that the Star Sapphire had matching performance combined with superior handling characteristics.

The bodywork was hand assembled and hand painted in nitrocellulose.  Instead of chromium plating directly onto steel, as was the norm in those days, the chromium was applied onto highly polished copper then brass plate.  This resulted in such a superior finish that, even after half a century, the brightwork shows little sign of deterioration.