This is Jaguar’s smallest car in more than a half-century. The F-Type will go on sale in the middle of 2013. Jaguar took inspiration from no less than the iconic E-Type roadster in the 1960s to create its first two-seat sports car in nearly four decades. Jaguar has decided to come back to producing sports cars after having concentrated on luxury sedans in the past decades.
Even Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari said that the E-Type, which was launched at the 1961 Geneva auto show, was the “most beautiful car ever built.” In fact, the E-Type has become identified with London during the “Swinging Sixties.” But then, it appears that India’s Tata Motors had to buy Jaguar in 2008 for USD2.5 billion before the return of a pure-bred sports model could be planned. Tata intends to invest USD12 billion over five years to get a slice of the roadster market that the German automakers presently dominate.
When Tata bought the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford Motor Co., it decided to combine the two into a single unit. Jaguar is adamant that the F-Type isn’t just a marketing gimmick and that it’s expected to earn profits. The F-Type is based on the C-X16 concept car that was first seen at the 2011 Frankfurt auto show.
