Jaguar F-Type full reveal

The all-new F-Type is Jaguar's first true sports car since the 1960s. It's the spiritual successor to the classic E-Type, with a driving-first layout and a muscular body that's pulled tight around the mechanical package.

It goes public today in Paris for the biggest European car show of the year and is also being rushed down under to star at the opening of the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney next month.

It's certain to be successful, with a look that's new and fresh and distinctive, an alloy chassis, a choice of V6 and V8 engines, and pricing that will put it squarely in the fertile range between Porsche's Boxster S and 911 Cabrio - likely to mean a base price around $200,000 in Australia.

The F-Type is much chunkier than the dainty E-Type, but that's down to modern safety regulations and a conscious decision not to run the sixties car through a 3-D photocopier. Design guru Ian Callum and his team have done a fantastic job and he admits there will eventually be a coupe to follow the F-Type roadster.

“It's a very complete car. It's a car we've wanted for a very long time,” Callum reveals to Carsguide during a sneak preview in London last month. “There is nothing I'd like to change, other than to take a couple of inches out of the height of it. I'm actually going to buy an F-Type with my own money.”

It's hard to gauge the size of the F-Type from pictures, but Jaguar says the car is 2 centimetres shorter and 11 wider than a new 911. It will play in a tough sandpit already filled by the Porsches, Audi's R8, the Lamborghini Gallardo and Aston Martin V8. Mechanically, the only real shortcoming is the lack of a manual gearbox.

Jaguar says it's happy with a tweaked version of its latest eight-speed auto but, in reality, getting a manual would have added an unacceptable 12-month delay to the project. There are three models - F-Type, F-Type S and F-Type V8 S - and the major difference is the engines. The basic car gets a V6 with 250kW/450Nm for a 0-100km/h time of 5.3 seconds and a top speed of 260km/h, the supercharged V6 takes it to 280/460 and 4.9/275 and the V8 is good for 364/625 and 4.3/300km/h.

Fuel economy is as good as 9.0 litres/100km, weights are from 1597 to 1665 kilos, and Jaguar says it's possible to fit a set of golf clubs in the boot. But the F-Type is about driving, so that's where all the effort - beyond the styling - has gone. The car was even driven into the press preview event, because Callum believes “You have to see a car in motion for the first time”.

A lot of effort has gone into keeping the weight down, and the front-rear balance close to 50:50, with rear-wheel drive and plenty of electronics to make it responsive while quick and safe. It's hard to know exactly how the F-Type will drive, but Jaguar says it's going to be way sharper than the brutal-but-brunt XK models - even the hotrod RS - and that it has been developed for the 21st century.

“Jaguar is a sports car company and without a sports car Jaguar is not Jaguar. But we did not sit around worshipping the ashes of our dead ancestors,” says Adrian Hallmark, global brand director for jaguar. “It's a Jaguar sports car - ultra-precise, powerful, sensual and, most of all, it feels alive.”

We won't know until the F-Type is available to drive, sometime early next year, if Hallmark and Callum are just jabbering. But everything looks good and the F is a bit like a Ferrari California that's been working out, with similar proportions but a much more muscular look.

It's not like anything else on the road today, it's backed by the massive Indian investment that's brought Jaguar back from the dead with a string of showroom hits, and the name alone is going to ensure the car is easy to sell for the first couple of years.

Jaguar F-Type

On sale: 2013
Pricing: from $200,000 (estimate)
Body: two-door roadster
Engines: 3-litre V6, 3-litre supercharged V6, 5-litre V8; 250kW/450Nm, 280/460, 364/625
Transmission: 8-speed auto, rear-wheel drive, LSD on S models
Dimensions: 4470mm (L), 1923mm (w), 1297mm (h)