Next Jaguar F-Type to Get Mid-Engine Layout?

Jaguar Cars Ltd. appears likely to switch to a mid-engine layout for its next-generation F-Type sports car due sometime after 2022, according to Autocar.

Such a design was favored by former styling chief Ian Callum, who left Jaguar this summer to start his own design firm.

Callum had been working with his successor, Julian Thomson, on a new F-Type that featured the mid-engine architecture to replace the current front-mid-engine configuration. The new chassis would be able to support a stand-alone piston engine, hybrid or pure electric drivetrain, according to the British magazine.

Callum says the plans also are “quite close” to some of the design cues of the C-X75 concept car (pictured) he penned in 2010. The original concept model was a hybrid system that featured diesel-fueled jet turbines as generators.

Subsequent prototypes used a more conventional gasoline-electric combination, Autocar notes, but the project was shelved in 2012. The C-X75 prototypes (pictured) were featured in the 2015 James Bond movie “Spectre.”

The current F-Type coupe and convertible were launched in 2013 as spiritual successors to the iconic E-Type from the 1960s and 1970s. The design is due for an update soon, but Autocar says an all-new model isn’t likely for at least another three years.

Despite his preference for a mid-engine design, Callum concedes that a front-mid-engine layout remains an option for the next-generation model.

Also yet to be determined is whether Jaguar will use its own platform for the new F-Type or share one with BMW AG. The carmakers already have agreed to collaborate on electrified drivetrains.

A report last month suggested that Jaguar could source a front-wheel-drive platform from BMW for two small hybrid crossover vehicles.