AIMS: Jaguar F-Type for Sydney show

JAGUAR’S F-Type sportscar is confirmed to make an appearance at October’s Australian International Motor Show in Sydney, shortly after its world debut at the Paris show next month.

Despite the absence of at least 22 brands, the Sydney show is assembling plenty of hot new metal, with Lexus earlier this week announcing a mystery coupe concept will make its world debut at Darling Harbour.

Jaguar sister company Land Rover will also ship in the next-generation Range Rover Vogue fresh from Paris, adding to the number of high-profile regional debuts.

AIMS director Russ Tyrie said the organisers are “honoured and excited” that the show has been chosen for the “second world unveiling” of the F-Type, which he described as “guaranteed to amaze the world’s automotive industry”.

“Its unveiling is certainly a momentous occasion in Jaguar’s illustrious history,” said Mr Tyrie.

Jaguar has confirmed the F-Type will be launched as a convertible and is expected to arrive in local showrooms shortly after its mid-2013 European launch.

The lightweight aluminium-bodied two-seat soft-top will be sold with a choice of three engines, comprising a new 3.0-litre supercharged V6 in 250kW and 280kW tunes, plus a flagship deploying “a new derivative” of the supercharged 5.0-litre V8 that produces 380kW in the XF, XJ and XK sportscar.

Jaguar previewed the F-Type at last year’s Frankfurt motor show with the hybrid C-X16 coupe concept, which was claimed to offer the supercar-like performance of the $340,000 XKR-S while consuming about half the fuel.

There is no official word on a production version of the hot-shoe hybrid or a coupe, but a hardtop is expected to emerge in 2014.

The F-Type made its first public appearance wearing full camouflage at the British Goodwood Festival of Speed in June and has since been put through final tests in some of the world’s harshest environments, according to Jaguar.

Jaguar’s virtual prototyping process has resulted in more than half a million design analyses – said to have created more than 300 terabytes of data – but the company admits the finishing touches require human input to “turn a great sports car into an exceptional one”.

Alongside the F-Type at the Sydney show will be 2013 updates to Jaguar’s XF and XJ sedans, featuring new engines, improved infotainment systems and fuel-saving measures including idle-stop and eight-speed automatic transmissions claimed to increase efficiency by up to 11 per cent.