Jaguar has unveiled a new concept sports car dubbed the ‘advanced lightweight coupe’ at the Detroit motor show.
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The new coupe was designed at its research and development centre in Coventry.
The company told the BBC that the car points the way ahead for the Jaguar marque and claims it will be as significant as the XK120 and E-Type models were in the past.
Unions in Birmingham told the broadcaster they hope it will continue to secure the future of production at the Castle Bromwich factory in Birmingham.
Jaguar parent company Ford last September confirmed that production will end at Jaguar’s Browns Lane factory in Coventry, the BBC noted.
The new aluminium car has a top speed of about 180mph and will retail for somewhere between £60,000 and £80,000, according to various reports.
The BBC said the production version is due in showrooms within a year.
TGWU union regional organiser Des Quinn told the broadcaster: “We are still of the feeling that this car should have been built at Browns Lane. It was promised there. They made concessions to get the car.
“Having said that we hope it is a success and we hope it does secure the long term the future of Castle Bromwich if indeed the car ends up being built there.”
Describing the latest Jaguar, the company’s director of communications, Don Hume, told the BBC: “It’s an embodiment of the design characteristics we’re working on for future generations of Jaguars. It’s a signpost of the way we’re going and the new products are absolutely vital to the future.
“(It) is entirely a product of Whitley. Future products based on it will be developed there so Whitley is the centre of engineering and development for Jaguar. It takes an increasingly important role into the future.”
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