50 years ago, Jaguar launched the E-Type which was one of the best looking cars back then. In fact, it still remains one of the most exquisite classics on the road today. The long swooping bonnet and the overall shape of the car was designed on the curves of a woman’s body and has since then been loved by aficionados the world over. Now, Jaguar plans to revive the model which once raced at endurance races of Sebring and Le Mans.
The test mule was spotted near Jaguar’s R&D facility in the UK and bears a striking resemblance to the current Jaguar XK Convertible. According to folks at Autocar, the official reveal of the all new Jaguar E-Type is just months away and the car could be launched at the 2013 Detroit motor show. The new car is expected to come in both coupe as well as cabriolet body styles and would directly compete with the Porsche Boxter. The new E-Type will be based on next generation XK with the same basic aluminium structure underneath.
The new Jaguar E-Type will be shorter than the XK by 250 mm with an overall length of 4.55 meters. The images clearly suggest that the car is based on the XK abiet with a shorter boot. Now, the XK Convertible had a boot spoiler and a small rear window to increase the boot space. The boot spoiler was added to install the rear high mounted stop lamp according to EU-specs. This had an adverse effect on the handling of the XK when driven at high speeds. Over 130 mph or so, the front of the car used to lose downforce and as a result become twitchy.
The images that Autocar has acquired also show a similar boot spoiler on the E-Type which could have an effect on the high speed handling of the car. We hope the Jaguar designers address this issue if at all it exists on the upcoming E-Type before the official launch of the car in January 2013. Secondly, the design of the car does not actually remind us of the brilliant E-Type which the designers should have actually taken cues from. The E-Type test mule looks more of a squashed XK Convertible. As far as the power under the hood is concerned the E-Type could get a V6 petrol and a more powerful V8 could follow in a XKE-R, may be. Making the new XK the base for the revived E-Type could dilute the image of the old E-type. We think, the Jaguar designers should’ve designed the new E-Type from the ground up making it a bespoke model which would’ve done justice to the original E-Type of the 1960′s.
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