Jaguar drop-top coming next year
 | Adrian Hallmark: Don’t rule out a Jaguar SUV or crossover. |
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NEW YORK -- The car wasn't ready for the New York auto show last week, but Jaguar announced at the show that it will build a soft-top convertible called the F-Type.
The car will be shown later this year and will go on sale here in mid-2013. It will be based on the C-X16 concept shown at last year's Frankfurt auto show.
Design director Ian Callum said Jaguar went for a soft top rather than the sliding metal roof that many competitors have because a hard top "would ruin the shape," requiring a very square back end.
"A soft top is a more efficient type of engineering," he said. "A fold-down hard top takes up a lot of space."
Adrian Hallmark, global brand director for Jaguar Cars, said the F-Type would be priced below the XK convertible, which starts at about $90,000, but above the Mercedes-Benz SLK and the Porsche Boxster roadster and Cayman coupe. He would not say whether Jaguar plans to produce an F-Type coupe.
Jaguar is also still working on a sedan in the size range of the BMW 3 series, Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C class, Hallmark said. The car will be on sale by 2015.
Any later and "the market will have left us behind," he said
Jaguar will also put all-wheel drive on some of its existing cars within two years. Hallmark did not specify which ones.
"The cars were not engineered to take awd at the outset," he said. "We have to modify engines and subframes."
Hallmark also said he would not rule out an SUV or crossover for Jaguar even though sister division Land Rover already is making those vehicles.
"There are no limitations because we are in the same company as Land Rover," he said. "In fact it makes it easier to do it."
You can reach Diana T. Kurylko at dkurylko@crain.com. -- Follow Diana on 
