2021 Jaguar F-Type revamped

CHICAGO — For the 2021 Jaguar F-Type refresh, the British automaker is going beyond the usual tweaking of vents and addition of colors to give the two-seater an entirely new look.

The sports car, available as a coupe or a convertible, launched in the 2014 model year and has been refreshed once before. That update was minor.

But the 2021-model refresh is bigger, said Rob Filipovic, product planning director at Jaguar Land Rover North America. Almost everything from the A-pillar forward — the hood, bumper and side vents — has been resurfaced.

"It's pretty significant for a midcycle push," Dominic Najafi, Jaguar's chief creative exterior designer, said on the sidelines of the Chicago Auto Show, where the F-Type made its North American debut. "And that's just to make it unmistakable, because the original F-Type is an icon. But we wanted to make sure at a glance you know this is the new one. So we really focused on that front end."

The outgoing model's headlights went up the fender, but the refreshed model has wide headlights that start near the grille and wrap around the front of the vehicle.

"We wanted to give the car even more of a dramatic road presence," Najafi said. "The car is wider and more assertive."

Inside, there's a new infotainment system as well as an instrument cluster that was upgraded and enlarged with a 12-inch reconfigurable screen.

Jaguar also made significant changes to the model's trim and pricing strategy.

F-Type trim levels will be reduced from eight to just four high-demand packages: base, First Edition — which is just for the 2021 model year — R-Dynamic and R.

The base trim with a four-cylinder remains the entry point, while the V-6 powered R-Dynamic has been consolidated into one version and only comes with all-wheel drive.

"It's really being a little bit more focused and streamlined and being able to deliver the best experiences at kind of various price points," Filipovic said.

Jaguar took a similar path with the XE sedan, Filipovic noted, reducing the number of trims to three when it was refreshed for the 2020 model year.

Set to arrive at U.S. dealerships in April, the F-Type starts at $62,625 for the coupe and $65,725 for the convertible, including shipping. That's the same starting price as that of the 2020 model.

"We want to make sure they remain extremely competitive in the market," Filipovic said of JLR's models. "And part of that is sometimes you make significant change and flow that change in value straight to the customer.

"The F-Type was a key one," he said. "There's a lot of activity in the sports-car segment. So how do we remain relevant and how do we enhance the experience for the customer and the total value equation that they're getting?"

The answer, he said, was to keep the four-cylinder model's price flat.

The coupe version of the V-6 R-Dynamic starts at $82,825. The 575-hp V-8 F-Type R coupe saw its price slightly increase to $104,225. But Filipovic noted that the Type R inherited its powertrain and most of its suspension from the previously offered SVR variant, which was priced from $124,625. All prices include shipping.

Said Filipovic: "Now you get that driving experience at just over $100,000."