Tata to build Jaguar sports car in Britain

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Tata Motors-owned Jaguar has confirmed its plan to build a new F-Type sports car in Britain. The two-seat convertible, which will go on sale from mid-2013, will be built at the Jaguar plant in Castle Bromwich in Birmingham.

The F-Type sports car will be based on Jaguar’s C-X16 concept car which was revealed in Frankfurt in September last year.

The F-type will be the successor of the iconic Jaguar E-Type sports car, which ended production in 1975. Jaguar said that it had been absent from the sports car segment for too long as E-Type was taken off production almost 40 years ago.

“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,” Adrian Hallmark, global brand director, Jaguar Cars, said, adding that the positive reaction to C-X16 concept car led Jaguar to speed up the development of its sports car.

Jaguar has already built engineering prototypes of the sports car, which will have an all-aluminium body.

The technical and range details of the sports car, which will only be produced as a two-seater, will be announced later this year, the Tata-owned company said.

“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,” Ian Callum, Jaguar’s director of design, said.

The two-seat convertible will be manufactured with a range of petrol engines, including a new power plant family. The sports car has started its final on-road testing on the prototypes built at the Castle Bromwich plant.

“The engineering development of the F-Type has focused on delivering a heightened level of dynamic driving reward. We are excited about our progress to date and are looking forward to soon being able to demonstrate what we have achieved,” Ian Hoban, Jaguar’s vehicle line director said.

Last year in May, Jaguar also announced its plans to build $1.2m 200mph hybrid supercar, which can run on both petrol and electricity, in partnership with Williams F1.

However, the C-X75 concept car will only have limited production — just 250 will be built.