Jaguar F-type: it’s official, as company releases photos and teaser video

Jaguar will release a production version of its C-X16 concept later this year, and it will don the F-type moniker.
   It’s not the first time the company looked at calling a vehicle the F-type. The XJ-S of 1975 could have had the badge, while an aborted coupé and convertible (XJ41 and XJ42) under development in the ’80s was rumoured to be ‘F-type’ as well.
   However, the teaser video released by Jaguar (below) is the first official sign that a future model will be called F-type, following the tradition of C-, D- and E-type sports cars.
   The company has also released photos of a camouflaged convertible, where it appears the C-X16’s purposeful stance has been preserved.
   The car will be in aluminium, and will be released as a two-seater coupé and convertible. A new range of petrol engines will also make their début as Jaguar ceases to rely on Ford power.
   Adrian Hallmark, Global Brand Director, Jaguar Cars, says in a release from the New York Auto Show, ‘We showed the C-X16 concept in September 2011, and the reaction to it has been so positive that we’ve accelerated our development of an all-new Jaguar sports car.
   ‘That car will be called the F-type, and it will be unveiled in production form later this year. The core appeal of Jaguar’s cars is their sporting heart, and that heart will beat stronger than ever before in the F-type. Its development is a vivid representation of the confidence and ambition of the Jaguar brand, and the desire amongst our engineers and design team to produce a world leader in a market segment that we have been absent from for too long. But no longer—the F-type is coming.’
   Ian Hoban, Jaguar Vehicle Line Director, says that the new model will deliver a ‘heightened level of dynamic driving reward.’
   Director of Design, Ian Callum, says, ‘A true sports car needs to be pure in both its purpose and its form; to have the opportunity to produce such a car for Jaguar has been a privilege both for myself and for my team. 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.’
   Prototypes are now testing on the road. The vehicle will go on sale in mid-2013.