The Jagdpanther was preceded by two attempts at mounting an 8.8 cm gun as a self-propelled anti-tank weapon; Ferdinand - also known as Panzerjäger Tiger (P) - using the ninety-one leftover Porsche-built VK 45.01 (P) chassis from the Tiger tank competition it lost to Henschel in 1942, and the Nashorn on the Geschützwagen III/IV (which used a combination of the Panzer III and Panzer IV components) chassis.

Production started in January 1944; in February, Hitler specified the simpler Jagdpanther name instead of its original "8.8 cm Pak 43/3 auf Fahrgestell Panther".

The Jagdpanther had a good power-to-weight ratio and a powerful main gun, enabling crews to destroy any type of Allied tank.

654 (currently in Grafenwöhr) Jagdpanther with modified lateral transmission gears (Leutnant Rosenfelder) travelled 400 - 500 km without suffering any damage.

However, a great tension has been detected in the sprockets.Mike Gibb of the Weald Foundation being interviewed by historian James Holland, disagreed that the Jagdpanther was unreliable.

He said that the Jagdpanther owned by the Weald foundation, which he had first hand experience with, had done hundreds of miles without any reliability issues normally raised about the tank.

Gibb theorised that claims about the tank being unreliable may have been with some crews who may have been young and inexperienced and not operated or maintained the vehicle properly.

[3] The last 'production' Jagdpanthers were produced at the factory by German staff just after the end of World War II under the supervision of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) during the American and British occupation of Germany.

[1][page needed] In the West, they were encountered in very small numbers late in the Battle of Normandy; the German 654 schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung ("654th Heavy Antitank Battalion") deployed about twelve Jagdpanthers against the British armed forces.

Four surviving Jagdpanthers are restored to running condition one each at the Deutsches Panzermuseum at Munster and the Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung (WTS) at Koblenz.