Jaguar F-Type Could Yield A Next-Gen All-Electric Version

Jaguar has officially gotten into the electric-vehicle market with the launch of the new I-Pace. You can bet your leaping cat there’ll be more to follow, and according to the latest intel coming in from the UK, that could include the replacement for the current F-Type.

According to Autocar (whose reports need often be taken with a grain of salt or two), the British automaker is considering producing an all-electric version of the next-generation F-Type. But it could still be a ways off.

Though Jaguar’s sports car is already six years old, its replacement isn’t expected to come for another couple of years from now. The company’s chief designer Ian Callum told Autocar that “being a specialist car, it will have a longer life than the mainstream models,” but that “there will be a future for the F-Type.”

Just what that future will look like is the subject of some speculation. Last month we brought you a report from another British publication that Jaguar Land Rover is working out a deal with BMW to supply the replacement for its celebrated but aging 5.0-liter supercharged V8, with the German automaker’s 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 tipped to find its way into the next F-Type before being implemented in other JLR models, including the replacements Jaguar XJ, Range Rover, and Range Rover Sport.

It wouldn’t be the first time, after all: the second-generation (circa 1994-2002) Range Rover offered a BMW-sourced six-cylinder diesel, and the third-gen model featured just such a 4.4-liter V8 sourced from BMW until 2006 when the Jaguar AJ-V8 was substituted.

It’s likely that the next F-Type would continue offering JLR’s Ingenium four-cylinder engines, with the BMW V8 powering the top version. But adding an all-electric variant could give Jaguar a rival to the forthcoming Tesla Roadster, much as the I-Pace has gone after the Model X.