PARIS MOTOR SHOW: Paris debut for Jaguar F-TYPE

Jaguar has confirmed what we already knew: that it will stage the world debut of its all-new F-TYPE roadster at the Paris Motor Show on September 27.

Another new official development video has also been released in the lead-up to Jaguar’s new compact two-seat convertible, a month after a sticker-clad prototype made its public driving debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in June.

No new details have been revealed for the F-TYPE, which Jaguar has confirmed will be available with three supercharged engine choices when it goes on sale globally in mid-2013, including two versions of the British brand’s new twin-vortex Roots-blown 3.0-litre petrol V6 delivering around 250kW and 280kW.

The top-shelf F-TYPE will be powered by a version of the supercharged 5.0-litre V8 from the XF, XK and XJ, but it’s unclear whether the F-TYPE 5.0 Supercharged flagship will match the 346kW/575Nm output of the XJ 5.0 Portfolio or the 375kW/625Nm figures realised by the XFR, XKR or XJ Supersport, let alone the beefy 404kW/680Nm numbers of the XKR-S.

Either way, Jaguar promises the rear-wheel drive F-TYPE will sprint to 100km/h in less than five seconds on its way to a top speed of more than 180mph (290km/h) and both engines will be matched as standard to an eight-speed automatic transmission featuring a fuel-saving idle-stop system.

As with the XJ limousine, the F-TYPE will be underpinned by a lightweight aluminium platform that Jaguar says will result in “stunning sportscar performance”.

Jaguar’s first two-seater convertible in more than 50 years will be joined by a two-seater F-TYPE coupe. The F-TYPE nameplate was confirmed at the New York Auto Show in April and its development was fast-tracked as a result of the positive response to the C-X16 concept /news/2011/prestige-and-luxury/jaguar/frankfurt-motor-show-jaguar-shows-off-c-x16-concept-26682 revealed at last September’s Frankfurt Motor Show.

It’s believed the coupe and convertible’s pricing will place them somewhere between Porsche’s Boxster/Cayman and the 911.

“The unveiling of the F-TYPE in Paris will be a truly significant day in Jaguar's history as it will mark the company's return to the sportscar market, a market it originally helped to create,” said Jaguar Cars Global Brand Director Adrian Hallmark.

“As its sporting forebears did in their era, the F-TYPE will break new ground by delivering stunning sportscar performance while vividly demonstrating Jaguar's cutting-edge engineering technologies and world-class design excellence. The next step in Jaguar's sporting bloodline is about to become reality.”

Jaguar said the F-TYPE’s development program continues to test final verification prototypes in some of the harshest environments in the world, as part of a process designed to verify “the staggering amount of design work that was carried out by Jaguar's engineers in the 'virtual world', a process in which the company is an industry leader”.

According to Jaguar, more than half a million separate F-TYPE design analyses were carried out comprising 10-million CPU hours of processing, creating more than 300TB of data.

“Had that same amount of initial design analysis been completed on physical cars, the number of prototype F-TYPEs built would have filled the majority of the UK's motorway network bumper-to-bumper,” said Jaguar.

Jaguar says it is now finetuning the performance of physical verification prototypes to ensure the production F-TYPE delivers “truly focused sports car driving reward”.

“When you are working on a Jaguar sportscar the expectations of the world are huge,” said Jaguar Vehicle Line Director, Ian Hoban. “We're really pleased how the attributes have translated from the virtual simulation work we've done into the physical world.

“Now, we're refining and adding those last few percentage points - that true element of honing which the Jaguar test team are delivering - which will turn a great sportscar into an exceptional one."

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