Jaguar has made it official: The new sports car will be named F-Type when it goes on sale as a two-seat convertible in mid-2013 and as a coupe a year later. The delightful C-X16 concept previewed its design at the fall 2011 Frankfurt auto show.New to the Jaguar range, it slots below the XK.
It has an all-aluminum body and a new all-aluminum, 3.0-liter supercharged direct-injection V-6 based on the 5.0-liter V-8, with balance shafts, a dual independent variable cam timing system, and a Roots-type twin vortex supercharger mounted in the engine's vee.
The V-6 will launch in the F-Type in two forms of tune: a 380-hp version and another making 340 hp. Transmission is a Jaguar-tuned ZF eight-speed automatic with paddle shifters and an intelligent start-stop system. The new engines are designed to give the F-Type performance closer to that of the Porsche 911 than the Boxster's. Jaguar's directors and engineers say this must be a very sporting car, separating it from the GT-style XK.
Global Brand director Adrian Hallmark sees the F-Type as vital not just for revenue, but also to cement the world's perception of Jaguar as an emotional, sporty brand.
Without a sports car, Jaguar is not Jaguar. It's like Porsche would be without a 911," Hallmark says. "There has been a gap that speaks for itself.
The death of the six-cylinder E-Type created that gap, though at the 2000 Detroit show, then-owner Ford Motor Company's design chief J Mays tantalized us with a Jaguar F-Type concept.
The research we did on [the F-type] is the strongest I've seen on any car in my career," Hallmark continues. This from a man who was once boss of Porsche Cars Great Britain, then sales and marketing director at Bentley when the Continental GT launched, and executive vice president for VW of America, followed by a brief stint as Saab's global sales chief.
More than 800 people have seen it, and they all react the same way, wherever you go. It makes Jaguar make sense.
We asked them, 'How is Jaguar seen and does this change your perception of Jaguar? What is the price/performance ratio?' It positions Jaguar in peoples' minds and makes Jaguar more relevant.
The body shell is derived from the XK's architecture, with a shorter wheelbase for an exceptionally rigid body. From 2015 on, the car will be available with new high-output four-cylinder engines. Jaguar has talked of a hybrid version, but it's not a priority.
Below the beltline, the production car has not changed from the C-X16 concept's sheetmetal, judging by the Jaguar-teased camo'd shots. The large vertical vents below the headlamps are gone, and Jaguar has switched to a two-pipe center-exit exhaust. The concept's concealed door handles have been preserved, and the convertible's decklid has acquired a deployable spoiler.
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