The footage was captured by Nicholas Clarke, who was near to the scene at the car park of the Woodbine pub in Bushbury.

It shows the car on fire before it explodes. Firefighters are then seen extinguishing the flames that engulfed the vehicle.

The 24-year-old freelance cameraman, who lives nearby, said: "I heard a loud explosion and my first thought was that a car had driven into a house again, because that has happened before.

"What I saw was a load of flames and a car on fire, so I stated filming and then I saw the car explode again. It was a bit of shock seeing that.

"The fire engine arrived after about 15 minutes to put it out and the police were there as well."

Wednesday's drama unfolded at about 6.50pm.

West Midlands Fire Service Jeremy Sharpe said today: "We got a call and one crew from Tettenhall attended. The incident involved one private motor vehicle that well alight. It was a Jaguar.

"It was deemed arson and the police also attended to assist with the clearance of debris on the roadway. The fire was extinguished with a couple of hose reels and it was all done and dusted by 7.45pm."

West Midlands Police spokesman Lee Page said police were called between 6.20pm and 6.50pm and that offenders had set a black Jaguar S-Type on fire.

He added: "It's being treated as arson and we'd encourage anyone with information to come forward."