It's not exactly James Bond and his Aston-Martin. But British TV star Damian Lewis is just fine with playing a co-lead role with the new Jaguar F-Type sports car in a new promotional mini-movie for the new model.

Called Desire, the film is being made in collaboration with director Ridley Scott and features music by Lana Del Rey. Appearing alongside Golden Globe winner Lewis, who stars stars in Homeland, will be American actress Shannyn Sossamon. Jaguar is slowly revealing aspects of the mini-movie with behind-the-scenes featurettes, the latest of which (above) was posted this week.

The production echoes how BMW innovated in branded content about a decade ago with an online-only series of short films for the web.Continue reading...

When the Los Angeles Auto Show holds its media preview on Wednesday, it'll become more apparent than ever that in the world of cars, as in some other things, California remains vastly disconnected from the rest of America.

That's because the nation's strictest emissions standards and laws mandating electric-vehicle sales put a premium for auto brands on showing the best side of their electrification efforts at the L.A. show. And so while EVs have continued to sell at a snail's pace across most of the rest of the United States, California has become a robust market for electric vehicles.

It's also America's hottest market for sexy cars, of course, which is why Jaguar USA is at the LA Auto Show. The brand hosted a pre-show event Tuesday night to unveil the all-new F-TYPE two-seater. It also unveiled the trailer for Desire, a short film being released next year, which stars Emmy Award-winning actor Damian Lewis, produced by Ridley Scott Associates with music by Lana Del Rey. Check it out below along with other previews at the LA Auto Show.Continue reading...

One of the most exciting (and highly teased) debuts at the Paris Auto Show is the new Jaguar F-TYPE, which Global Brand Director Adrian Hallmark calls the brand's "first sports car in 50 years" and many fans hail as a return to Jag's roots.

While the new arrival was feted at the Musee Rodin this week at an affair graced by the presence of American singing sensation Lana Del Rey and Hollywood director Ridley Scott, the highlight for auto enthusiasts was the unveiling of the F-TYPE to assembled global car media by Hallmark and other Jaguar executives.

Owned and being revived by Tata Motors after the Indian industrial conglomerate bought it from Ford, Jaguar is counting on F-Type to turn heads and keep its strong sales momentum going, reports the Wall Street Journal. In the effort, the all-new two-seater is a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive convertiblewith three powertrain options, including a V8S version that will reach 60 mph in 4.2 seconds and has a top speed of 186mph.Continue reading...

Auto executives from around the world, car journalists, and thousands of other hangers-on are flocking to the French capital for the Paris Auto Show which is kicking off with an end-of-the-week preview of new models and concept vehicles for the media.

One automaker after another is primping itself for the Parisian catwalk — such as the renascent Volvo, which is unveiling new variants of its V40 at the exhibition, and the snazzy new Jaguar F-TYPE, which was feted at the Musee Rodin Thursday night with celebs on hand including American chanteuse Lana Del Rey, above.

But unfortunately, a pall is hanging over the hall and the show's participants: the growing distress of Europe's auto market, which seems to be worsening not only quantitatively but perceptually every week.Continue reading...

Tata Group long has been one of India's most successful enterprises, a family-owned industrial conglomerate with its fingers in many aspects of a booming Indian economy. That included Tata Motors, which made (mostly) inexpensive little cars, including the "world's cheapest," the Nano.

But when Tata took over Jaguar Land Rover by buying the double-headed bastion of Britishness from Ford for $2.3 billion in June 2008, few western analysts gave the company a chance of succeeding where a huge American auto company had not been able to. Previous forays by powerhouse companies from emerging markets buying western outfits hadn't fared well, including Tata Steel's own acquisition of Corus Steel in 2007.

Doubters sniffed that Tata Chairman Ratan Tata, a car buff, had become too enamored of buying global brands, as Tata acquired Tetley Tea, Daweoo Commercial Vehicles, and the Pierre Hotel in New York. But Tata Motors has confounded those skeptics.Continue reading...

Following a sneak peek at the New York Auto Show in April, the F-TYPE, Jaguar's all-new aluminum two-seater sports car, will make its global debut in production form at the Paris Motor Show on Sept. 27.

Adrian Hallmark, global brand director for Jaguar, said in a press release, "The unveiling of the F-TYPE in Paris will be a truly significant day in Jaguar's history as it will mark the company's return to the sports car market, a market it originally helped to create."

See more teasers from Jaguar below.Continue reading...

Jaguar has been letting its cars out to play, so to speak, in its latest marketing campaign, dubbed "Alive." The extensive brand makeover features, among other things, significant changes to Jaguar's iconic "leaper" and "growler" logos.

But so far, no number of feline stunts have moved American consumers. They haven't been all that responsive to "Alive" or to Jaguar's global aims to rise again under ownership of India's Tata Motors group: Sales in June were down 26 percent for Jaguar in the American market, and for the year to date they're only flat.

Now, Jaguar is going further to try to stir up interest among luxury buyers in the U.S. and beyond with new teaser videos of its new F-Type roadster.Continue reading...

Move over, E-TYPE — there's a new Jaguar in town.

The British automaker announced at the New York Auto Show today that it will bring an all-new sports car to production: the F-TYPE.

Adrian Hallmark, Global Brand Director, Jaguar Cars, confirmed: "We showed the C-X16 concept in September 2011, and the reaction to it has been so positive that we've accelerated our development of an all-new Jaguar sports car."

"That car will be called the F-TYPE, and it will be unveiled in production form later this year," he added. "The core appeal of Jaguar's cars is their sporting heart, and that heart will beat stronger than ever before in the F-TYPE. Its development is a vivid representation of the confidence and ambition of the Jaguar brand, and the desire amongst our engineers and design team to produce a world-leader in a market segment that we have been absent from for too long. But no longer – the F-TYPE is coming."

More details about Jaguar's new sports car, which will launch as a convertible, in the press release below.Continue reading...