Although it remains one of the world's great car companies, with an unrivalled reputation for style and innovation, for sheer impact Jaguar has never managed to equal the iconic E-Type of 1960.
Half a century later, it is difficult for those of us who weren't there to gauge just how completely this extraordinary vehicle - once famously described by Enzo Ferrari as “the most beautiful car in the world” - turned the automotive world on its ear.
Speculation about a possible F-Type began even before the E-Type went out of production in 1975 but by then Jaguar had sunk into mediocrity as part of the ill-fated British Leyland combine, and the best it could do was the bloated XJ-S V12.
Then, in 2000, rescued by Ford, it came up with the F-Type concept, an extraordinary little ballerina of a car, regarded by many as “the prettiest car than never was”, which was, sadly, aborted by the bean counters as the much heavier XK soldiered on.
But now, says Autocar, Jaguar has translated its new design philosophy of “expressing lightness” - of shaping cars that look like they're entirely made of aluminium because they are - into an all-new roadster no bigger than a Porsche Boxster, codenamed XE, that one Jaguar insider says “will blow the rest of the industry away”.
And just as it did at Geneva in 1960, the rumour mill is suggesting that Jaguar will spring a concept version on the Frankfurt show next month, to steal the spotlight from the much-hyped 2012 Porsche 911 on its German home turf.
Autocar quotes insiders as saying that the XE embodies the “spirit of the E-Type” rather than its shape, but there will inevitably be styling cues from, in particular, the 1963 lightweight E-Type racer and the 2000 F-Type concept.
It says the XE will be built on a new all-aluminium platform that's nearly half a metre shorter than the next-generation XK (expected on sale in 2014) - we really are talking about a sports car here, not a GT.
Like the XK, the XE will be built up from pressed and riveted aluminium panels, underpinned by box-shaped extrusions to stiffen the roofless body - but insiders say it will be a two-seater, not a 2+2, and chopping out 450mm of chassis length just ahead of the rear axle will not only make it 200kg lighter than the most basic XK (and, at 1500kg, only 50kg heavier than a Boxster), it will also give it the classic long bonnet/short deck proportions of the E-Type.
According to Autocar's sources, the XE will have V6 engines, with and without superchargers. Also under investigation are a turbopetrol four - together with an eight-speed auto 'box and stop/start function - to give it some “green” credentials - as well as a five-litre V8 from the XJ parts bin for a seriously attitudinous flagship model.
Expect to see production versions late in 2012, priced to compete with the Boxster - but not badged as an XE; in Jaguarspeak the fifth letter of the alphabet is forever taken. Some suggest that it may be the first model to be reflect of a revised naming strategy: how does Jaguar One R sound - with One RS for the V8? We like.