Jaguar reveals what could be its most important new model in six decades, the F-Type.
Only the Brits would come to Paris to unveil a new convertible in the pouring rain. But Jaguar is hoping that the soggy send-off for the new F-Type sports car won’t dampen the reception for the long-awaited “spiritual successor” to the legendary Jaguar E-Type.
The new F-Type will get its official debut on Thursday, during the opening press day of the 2012 Paris Motor Show. The maker offered relatively few details about the new sports car during the Wednesday sneak peek, but TheDetroitBureau.com has gotten an inside look at Jaguar’s ambitious plans – which include a range of additional F-Type variants that will come to market during the new model’s likely 6- to 8-year lifecycle.
Among other things, expect to see even more powerful versions of the Jaguar F-Type than the 495-horsepower supercharged V-8 that will reach showrooms early next year. An all-wheel-drive model may very well be in the works, TheDetroitBureau.com learned, though a diesel model is not in the cards.
Meanwhile, Jaguar hopes to capture as much as 10% of the global sports car market, Andy Goss, CEO of Jaguar-Land Rover North America revealed, in part by pricing the new F-Type between the Porsche Boxster and 911 models.
A look inside the new Jaguar F-Type, shown here in British right-hand-drive configuration.
“We didn’t plan the British weather but we’re used to it,” joked Jaguar’s global brand chief Adrian Hallmark during an F-Type sneak preview held at the Rodin Museum, in Paris. “And what better way to launch a car (that will help) take the Jaguar brand from a niche player to a major manufacturer in the luxury market?”
The F-Type coming to market next year is actually the culmination of Jaguar’s fourth attempt to create a true successor to the E-Type – which last year celebrated its own 50th anniversary. An early design was later rebadged the Aston Martin DB9 – both brands at the time owned by Ford Motor Co. Just before the new Millennium, former Jaguar CEO Jacques Nasser introduced a second F-Type concept, while a third, mid-engine alternative was never shown to the public.
The new F-Type will, like the Nasser-era prototype, use a front-engine, rear-drive layout. But like other more recent Jaguar offerings the production version will adopt a lightweight aluminum body and platform that comes in at just 3,521 pounds with the base V-6.
The Jaguar F-Type's soft top can be operated in just 12 seconds.
During the Paris preview, design chief Ian Callum repeatedly referred to the original E-Type, noting the influence on the basic shape, nose and taillamps of the new sports car. But the Jaguar F-Type is no retro-mobile.
“This car is not an E-Type,” he insisted. “This is a Jaguar for now.”
There are two strong lines that define the sports car, one slicing rearward from the nose and fading away in the doors, “like a pencil leaves a piece of paper,” Callum suggested. The other defines the tail. The rear lamps run horizontally, with just a hint of the E-Type in the central rondels.
Chanteuse Lana Del Rey, shown here at the F-Type preview, will work with director Ridley Scott on a short film on the new sports car.
The interior is a very modern iteration, as well, with some of the luxurious, high-tech details of the latest Jaguar F-Type. Two integral roll bars rise above and behind the twin, sports-style seats. The power top, meanwhile, will open and close in barely 12 seconds, according to Hallmark, making it one of the fastest on the market.
Twin tailpipes will define the V-6, quad exhaust tips the V-8.
Initially, Hallmark confirmed, there will be three powertrain options: a 3.0-liter 340-hp supercharged V-6, as well as a 380-hp version developing higher boost. The initial top-line model will boast a 5.0-liter V-8 making 495 horsepower.
Might even higher performance models be in the works? Apparently, the Jaguar F-Type won’t skip the eventually RS treatment, several insiders confirmed, pushing it to well over 500-hp. Also likely to follow will be an all-wheel-drive version.
A closer look at the new Jaguar F-Type's rear.
For his part, Goss would only hint to the coming variants by noting, “We know how to create a proper lifecycle for our cars, so everything is possible.”
Well, not everything. He firmly ruled out the eventual addition of a diesel which he insisted just would not fit the F-Type’s mandate.
Jaguar has had a rough time of it in recent years and the F-Type is being positioned as the start of a complete brand makeover under Tata Motors, the Indian conglomerate that purchased the British maker from Ford several years ago.
The new model is “very important” for the transition, Ratan Tata, the company’s chief, told TheDetroitBureau.com. “Symbolically, it’s Jaguar all over again.”
The new F-Type with Jaguar chief designer Ian Callum.
Hallmark is bullish that the Jaguar F-Type will quickly grab a 10% share of the global sports car market – which by the maker’s measure totaled a modest 72,000 units last year. But sports car sales are actually down by a full two-thirds since the start of the global recession and Hallmark insists “It’s going to come back,” Jaguar benefiting from the revival.
To meet that ambitious target, the maker won’t simply rely on a sleek design and solid performance. Goss revealed that “The price will be 25% less than a 911,” placing the base price of the new F-Type around $70,000. “We want to straddle the gap between Boxster and 911,” he explained.
The response at the Rodin Museum preview was “about as positive as we could have hoped,” said a senior Jaguar official. The next test will come with the full unveiling during the Paris Motor Show press days and the subsequent opportunity for the public to take a look.
On a pure volume basis, the new F-Type will neither make nor break the brand – but the British maker desperately needs to revive its image, and it’s betting a sleek and sexy sports car is the best way to begin that process, much as the E-Type did 61 years ago.