With order books opening on Saturday, you won't hear anyone at Jaguar refer to the new F-TYPE as the spiritual successor to the legendary E-type. The fact that its name is one letter further on in the alphabet merely continues a chain which stretches back to the C-type of the 1950s.

Too much water has passed under the bridge since the E-type went out of production for the newcomer to be seen as a follow-up, anyway. And the raft of safety and emissions legislation that new cars now have to meet makes it impossible to create a modern E-type.

"There are two things you can't change - the law of Brussels and the law of physics," explained Jaguar design director Ian Callum. "Car design is about elegantly wrapping a powertrain. There are details on the F-TYPE which refer to the E-type, but not specifically. It is mainly about line, surface and proportions.

"We did look at giving the F-TYPE an oval grille, but we decided we wanted an expressive change. The grille we came up with was inspired by the original XJ.

The importance of the F-TYPE is that it returns Jaguar to the sports-car market from which it has been absent for far too long. "Sports cars are the heart of our industry," he said.

"With the F-TYPE we've put the driver right at the centre point of the car. We have a long bonnet and short overhangs, or chiselled corners to make the front overhang look shorter, and a tucked-in tail like the E-type."

The result is the lowest, widest and shortest Jaguar ever - built almost entirely of aluminium, but with a composite boot deck and front splitter and some magnesium sections in the front headlamp carriers and cross-car beam. That makes it light. The body alone is 35kg lighter than Jaguar's target figure. The weight of the whole car starts at less than 1,600kg for the entry-level V6.

"The interior architecture is deliberately very simple, with a strong line to give a cockpit feel. It's the driver's office. The switchgear is very tactile, mechanical and technical, and the dials are analogue because that makes them easier to read. And there's no wood. The E-type didn't have any wood in the cabin, either, except on the steering wheel, because that's how things were done in those days."