The Sterling badge was used in Europe and most global markets to denote the top saloon luxury version and the Vitesse badge used to denote the top fastback sporting version. The Vitesse became available at the same time as the 2675 cc Honda V6. Both of these top of the range models were initially only available in the UK with the V6. In some European markets, in particular Italy, the 2.0 litre petrol was badged as Sterling and later available (in turbo form) as Vitesse to avoid punitive duties that made engines over 2.0 litres non-viable for volume sales. At the time of the launch, the Sterling provoked controversy as it overlapped in price with the entry level versions of the Jaguar XJ40 which was launched at the same time, and had been developed largely when Jaguar was still part of British Leyland.