A camouflaged version of the new Jaguar F-Type undergoing testing.
Jaguar will add an all-new sports car to its line-up a little more than a year from now, the maker revealed during its New York Auto Show news conference.
Dubbed F-Type, it is the long-anticipated production version of the CX-16 concept car unveiled last year. The new 2-seater will slot underneath the British maker’s current XK line and provide an affordable, high-performance entry into the Jaguar line-up.
“It opens up a much bigger part of the market to us,” explained Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar’s global marketing chief, during a conversation with TheDetroitBureau.com.
Though the production F-Type won’t be quite as radical as the CX-16 show car – with its unusual, side-opening hatchback – Jaguar contends the new model will put a premium on both styling and performance. It is expected to come close to the brute power of the maker’s current muscle car, the XK-R, hinted Hallmark.
The Jaguar C-X16 concept car.
The executive declined to discuss specific powertrain details, though he did suggest that “to be relevant in this segment, you have to innovate.” That could mean a high-output turbocharged engine or perhaps something even more radical. But whatever comes at launch – scheduled for “mid-2013” – will just be the start, Hallmark revealed.
“Every year, there will be something going on – a new engine, special edition or a new body style,” he said. “So, whatever we have at the start won’t be the end of it.”
The new model will be smaller and lighter than the current XK, Jaguar says, and Hallmark noted it “will deliver sub-5-second 0-60 (times) and over 180 mph in top speed.”
Struggling to reverse several years of sharp declines, Jaguar has won the approval of its owner, India’s Tata Motors, to introduce a number of new products and powertrains, the F-Type just one of many to come over the next half decade, according to company officials.