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Tons of photographers, reporters, and enthusiasts waited at the center of the North American International Auto Show 2000. Under a gray silk cover, a short,
low car stood on the Jaguar platform. The cover seemed to small for a normal Jaguar. Wolfgang Reitzle, chairman of Jaguar Cars and Jonathan Browning, managing director, took the stage to unveil the new car that they
called the F-Type.
"Jaguar is the most emotional engineering brand in the world" Reitzle told the journalists.
"The F-Type is a clear signal of Jaguar's intent to return to the true sports
car market in which we were so successful in the 1950s and 1960s." Browning added.
The F-Type began under the command of Geoff Lawson, who was Jaguar's director of styling. Sadly, Lawson died of a stroke,
and Ian Callum took the role. The F-Type seeks to recapture the spirit of the legendary E-Type, Jaguar's famous, powerful, sporty car; in a compact form. The F-Type is 25 inches shorter than Jaguar's concept XK180,
unveiled in 1998.
There were many complications along the way of creating the F-type. Particularly, the engineers at Jaguar wanted to continue the Jaguar tradition of a long hood, which proved to be very
difficult, due to the car's smaller shape. Also, due to the fact that the car was so light, they had to figure out how to provide enough downforce for the car to handle well. They accomplished this by using a
"splitter" in the front of the car, which moves automatically to provide just enough downforce, and by using a fixed diffuser tunnel in the rear of the car.
Despite the car's small size, it can
accomodate some powerful engines. The car should come in a version with a 240 horsepower AJ-V6, or a 300 horsepower supercharged version. Both manual and automatic transmissions are possible in the car, according to
Jaguar. The car should even be available in an all wheel drive version, instead of the normal rear wheel drive version.
The inside of the F-Type, like all Jaguars, is beautiful and luxurious. The seats are
crafted out of beautiful, soft handcrafted leather. The dashboard is filled with simple, practical controls and switches, which are all comprised of solid, 100% pure aluminum.
The new, smaller, lighter Jaguar
should attract younger, sportier buyers, of both genders, according to Jaguar. While Jaguar doesn't want to release too much information about the F-Type, they are saying that there's a very good chance that the car
will be produced.
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