Jaguar: C-X16 and Beyond

Last fall, at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Jaguar revealed a stunning, sexy concept car, the C-X16. One could call it a study in essentials that’s executed in a manner that calls to mind words like sinuosity.

When’s the last time you used a word like that? When’s the last time you saw a car that looks like this?

The C-X16, said Ian Callum director of Design for Jag, “has been designed from first principles. It is an evolution of the design ethos of past Jaguars and defines the agenda for a future of dramatic, innovative sports cars. Purity of line and intent is what Jaguar does best.” He described the C-X16 as being “fundamentally a driving machine.”

So from the perspective of the machinery, the aluminum-bodied car features an all-aluminum supercharged, 275-hp V6 that is supplemented by an electric motor that it integrated into the eight-speed transmission; the motor provides an additional 94 hp which can be used to help boost the car to 62 mph in 4.4 seconds (or a top speed for 186 mph) or allows the car to drive on electricity alone at speeds up to 50 mph.

Last week, at the New York Auto Show, Jaguar announced that given the positive reaction to the C-X16 it will be putting into production the F-TYPE. Like the C-X16, it is an all-aluminum two-seater. It will go on sale in mid-2013, so the company is being mum about other specifics.

About the F-TYPE, Ian Callum said, “A true sports car needs to be pure in both its purpose and form. . . . 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.”

So far, it looks like this:

It will look better once that disturbing camouflage is removed, presumably.