Jaguar needed three decades and two cancelled projects to build a new E-Type
Jaguar first tried to build a modern successor to the E-Type in 1980. That effort was killed in 1990, and a retro speedster shown in Detroit in 2000 was cancelled two years later. Only in December 2012 did the F-Type finally reach production, going on to sell 87,731 cars before Jaguar ended it in 2024.
The false starts are part of the story. The XJ41/XJ42 project began in 1980 but was shelved in March 1990 when further delays would have clashed with a new saloon. Designer Geoff Lawson then led work on a lightweight two-seater with a 3.0-litre V6, aimed at rivals like the Porsche Boxster. After his sudden death in 1999, Ian Callum took over and unveiled it at the 2000 Detroit show to warm reviews, but budget cuts at parent company Ford, which chose to spend on Formula One, left it dead by 2002.
The route that worked ran through a concept called C-X16, shown at Frankfurt in 2011. It borrowed its grille and wraparound tail lights from the C-X75 hybrid concept and a side-hinged rear window recalling the 1961 E-Type coupé, and Jaguar said it was the brand's smallest car since the 1954 XK120. Built at Castle Bromwich on a shortened XK platform, the production car arrived as a convertible in 2012, with a coupé following in 2013.
Underneath is an all-aluminium body joined with flush rivets and glue, double-wishbone suspension and a fabric roof that folds in 12 seconds at up to 30 mph. Engines ranged from a 2.0-litre four, Jaguar's first four-cylinder sports car, to supercharged V6 and V8 units. The SVR, revealed at Geneva in March 2016, hit 200 mph, the first Jaguar road car to do so since the XJ220; 1,875 were built.
Marketing leaned on celebrity. Lana Del Rey fronted the launch at the 2012 Paris show, Damian Lewis starred in a short film called Desire, and a Super Bowl advertisement unveiled the coupé on 2 February 2014. David Beckham promoted it in China. A facelift in December 2019 brought slimmer lights and simplified engines before production ended in June 2024.
Source: Jaguar F-Type
