Jaguar’s
new F-type is to be built as a successor to its previous sports cars.
Jaguar's F-type will be based on the C-X16
concept car and be the heir to its iconic sports cars of the past
It will launch as a
two-seater convertible with petrol engines made at Jaguar's Castle Bromwich
plant with the design to be unveiled this year, the carmaker said.
As the iconic E-type
was last made in 1975, Jaguar said it had been "absent for too long"
from making sports cars.
The car will go on
sale in mid-2013.
Jaguar has previously described it as
"the spiritual successor to the E-type", which had its debut more
than 50 years ago
"The C-type, D-type and E-type Jaguars
were all sports cars that held true to this principle in their era, and the
F-type will hold true to that same principle in its time, a time that is soon
to arrive," said Ian Callum, Jaguar's director of design.
The design will be based on the C-X16 concept
that it unveiled in September 2011.
"The reaction to it has been so
positive that we've accelerated our development of an all-new Jaguar sports
car," the carmaker said.
The C-X16 can accelerate from zero to 62mph
in 4.4 seconds, yet emit just 165g/km of CO2, Jaguar said at the time.
That concept car was also fitted with a
Kers system, short for Kinetic Energy Recovery System that has been developed
by the Formula 1 industry.
The system allows a 1.6kWh lithium-ion
battery pack, mounted behind the seats for weight distribution reasons, to be
charged through a rear axle electro-hydraulic brake energy regeneration system.