A rapt crowd at the Musée Rodin in central Paris saw Jaguar unveil the long-awaited F-type model last night — the luxury motoring giant’s first sports car since it brought out the E-type more than five decades ago.
The event featured a performance by Lana Del Rey, who dedicated a new song, Burning Desire, to the F-type.
Shaking off Jaguar Land Rover’s disappointing slowdown in sales growth last month, chief designer Ian Callum — who launched the vehicle — was jubilant. “I was seven years old when I first saw an E-type. I thought wow, that car is inspirational… This is not an E-type. It has its own character but it’s very much a Jaguar,” he said.
The car will be made at Jaguar Land Rover’s plant in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham and will be launched as a convertible next spring, with a coupé expected in summer 2014.
The F-type can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in little more than four seconds and launches a direct marketing challenge to Porsche’s 911 and Boxster models and Mercedes SLK.
The basic two-seater model is powered by a supercharged 3.0-litre V6 engine, though a 5.0-litre V8 version will also be available. Priced at around £55,000, the basic F-type is sandwiched between the £37,600 Boxster and the £71,500 911.
Jaguar Land Rover reported record sales and profits in the year to March 31, boosted by strong demand for luxury products from emerging economies such as China and Russia.
However, much of the growth was driven by Land Rover, with the Range Rover Sport proving to be the group’s biggest seller last year.
The company’s next-best seller was the “baby” Range Rover Evoque, which was launched just more than a year ago.
The E-type went out of production in the early Seventies, leaving Jaguar with a gap in its offering. The launch of the F-type gives Jaguar an opportunity to belatedly plug that gap, bringing in a younger and cooler customer and potentially increasing Jaguar’s contribution to the group’s bottom line.
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The F-type’s contribution could be particularly valuable in a car market that appears to be declining. Sales at Jaguar Land Rover increased by just 13% in August, compared with jumps of 41% in July, 39% in June and 35% in May.