Jaguar F-Type is poised to pounce in 2013

A fourth member will join the Jaguar family, but it's not so much new as it has been estranged. Jaguar is jumping back into the true sports-car business with an evocative model called the F-Type. 

No, it's not the E-type, but Jaguar brass is OK with you making that comparison. And execs know that labeling anything with a name close to that of the 1960s virtuoso is a loaded proposition. 

But by all accounts, when the F-Type arrives in the United States in 2013, it will be ready to deliver, running a 3.0-liter supercharged V6 pushing out about 380 hp paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission. It will be capable of sprinting to 60 mph in less than five seconds en route to 180 mph.

Employing an aluminum monocoque and produced in England, early prototypes are already on the road across the Atlantic. 

The F-Type will closely mirror the appearance of the C-X16 concept car revealed in 2011 at the Frankfurt motor show, which captured Autoweek's Best in Show honor. It's the first two-seater Jag in decades.

"We've been away from the segment, and now we're back in style," said Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar's global brand director. "It's the next logical step in our sports-car lineage."

While the C-X16 had a severely angled roofline-almost a hatch-that conjured images of the E-type, the F-Type will be a true roadster. Looking much like the concept and closely mirroring its dimensions, the F-Type will serve as a halo car for the brand. Jaguar aims to attract a fresh breed of customers with it, perhaps a younger set. 

The 2+2-configured XK will remain the top-of-the-line sport model, and no one argues that the XKR-S isn't one of the fiercest road-going variants from any company, but it's more grand tourer than kick in the teeth. The F-Type will be the purer "thoroughbred," Hallmark said.

The C-X16 had an electric motor that added extra power on demand with a Formula One-style push-to-pass system, which won't be available in production trim-at least initially. Stop/start, however, will be an option on the F-Type. 

The car will fight a wide range of competitors, such as the Mercedes-Benz SL, the Porsche 911 cabrio and even the Audi R8 roadster. Jaguar Land Rover North America president Andy Goss calls the F-Type "the modern, emotional fulcrum of the brand," and in 2013, that will again mean a leap in performance for Jaguar.