This is all conjecture and rumor of course, but we thrive on rumors, so here you go:
“Plans for a second Jaguar sports car appear to have picked up steam internally.”
There’s even talk of reviving the XK! If it’s true, you heard it here first. If it’s false, blame Motor Authority.
Sports car… Jaguar hasn’t built a ‘sports car’ for decades… they have TWO seats, are generally somewhat bare bones… and tend to be brought out at the most inopportune moments by Jaguar… their timing for the last roll out was atrocious. Whatever happened to the XK180 ? How about a continuation model ? You know the 30000 which were ordered and never delivered …
OK: we’re blaming Motor Authority!
An XK reboot would be cool! T’would obviously have to be updated for safety, but… if Chrysler had the moxie to make the Prowler, an XK would be possible!
Given their current financial woes, however…
However if Chrysler buys the company… as has been suggested… maybe they will have the moxie after all… particularly as “mr” Calllum has been given the boot
I beg to differ. The F-Type is a sports car. Just ask my wife, she still think I’m insane for getting it, 5 years after the fact.
You might very well think that… I couldn’t possibly comment… With apologies to FU
That may well be true…
As do I: having driven quite a few hundred miles, in a friend’s hotted-up F Type, in some seriously twisty, Rocky Mountain bits, it certainly fits the bill of a capable GT (in actuality, far more capable than the E): I maintain the E Type really wasn’t as much a sports car, but much more a GT car.
For some, clearly, nothing but building a bridge to the past will ever suffice.
As did Jaguar…
I did not know that. All the way from the introduction in 1961, or did it change over the years?
It came up in a different thread yesterday. The cover page of Jaguar’s 1961 press kit referred to the cars as a “E”-Type Grand Touring Models.
http://www.jag-lovers.org/brochures/e_techno.html
I looked at the descriptions in a few of their early E-type brochures stored on the old JL site. Jaguar referred to the car as a Grand Touring or “GT” in several places. In at least one of the same brochure they used the term “sports car”.
Personally I don’t think the label matters much. The car is what it is and speaks for itself.
If the F-type has been a little smaller I could see the need for a “new” XK but they d be competing with each other.
I could agree to the argument about Jaguar not having built a proper sports car in decades but there is a very good reason: it s a very limited niche market. Who has build one? Lotus? Very small numbers. The Alfa 4C? I believe it s already gone…
People don’t want bare bone two seat sports cars…
This also brings up the question; Is the term “sports car” static, or does it evolve with the times? What does “bare bones” even mean now, compared to the 50s, 60s, or even 70s? No AC? OK, I can see that, it steals power from the engine. But who in their right mind would purchase a new car with no AC these days? Same with stereo, I think Porsche (and BMW?) will sell you a car with basically no interior and a fiberglass trunk lid, but unless you do your grocery shopping on the Nordschleife, you’d have to be a little … unusual to want one.
Sort of apropos: I’ve seen people refer to the Mazda Miata as the last, honest, true sports car. But I’ve also seen the Miata mercilessly ridiculed. My point is: If you ask 100 random car enthusiasts what a sports car is, you’ll get 102 different answers. Or 103, if you ask here on Jag-lovers. 
Try to even find a car, excepting very limited production special interest models, without AC, PS, PB, PW, some kind of infotainment, and a slew of other features.
When it came out it was probably about as close as you could get to what one would consider the “Classic British Sports Car”. Small, smallish engine, manual transmission, basic creature comforts, nimble, cloth top. Despite the fact that as early as 1995, maybe earlier, you could option one with power everything, a decent sound system and leather, the Miata is still about as close as you can get.
…BWAAAAAAAhahaha!
Gunnar, 1!!!
I still consider the Miata to be the best sports car ever.
Heading for the ill-fitting Nomex undies…
List: Since I have never driven a Miata I am in no position to compare it to an XKE. But, in 1969 when I was gifted an e-type, there was nothing like it. Perhaps there were vehicles that handled as well, and others that looked as sleek, but nothing that did both so well. In an e-type, you felt there was nothing that you could not do; speed, precise handling and braking in a package that was like nothing else.
It was a treat and a pleasure to drive.
Regards
Lou Danzico
Just my opinion. Both are equally fun to drive, both excel in their missions, but beyond transporting one from point A to point B their missions are different.
Had an MX-5 Miata with a stiffened suspension as a Daily/track car for years. Loved it although a bit slow. I always thought of it as a modern MGB. Sold it to buy a Lotus Elise, best affordable sports car on the planet. Sold it to fund the E-Type restoration. When the E-Type is done (this year!) I’ll go get another MX-5. There is a 2.5L aftermarket upgrade available which may make the Miata perfect.
BrianM
I happen to think that the MX5 is the best sports car, ever produced.
It does almost everything a sports car is supposed to do, and in an exquisitely wonderful way.
