Jaguar E-Type Recast

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JAGUAR is going gangbusters under its new owner, Indian giant Tata Motors, with a revitalised model range and a healthy balance sheet. But there's one thing missing from this line-up and, arguably, it's the British brand's most famous model.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the E-Type was famously described by Enzo Ferrari as ''the most beautiful car ever made''.

An icon of 1960s motoring, it came with a in-line six or V12 power and convertible or coupe body styles, with the coupe being the most prized today.

With Jaguar now profitable, many loyalists believe there's no time like the present for a modern iteration of the E-Type. Until such time, however, perhaps this modern interpretation will suffice.

Meet the Lyonheart K, a ''truly British luxury sports car'', which costs a cool $610,000 and takes 18 months to build.

The car is entirely hand-built in Coventry, Britain, with painstaking attention to detail.

The aluminium engine is revealed by opening the traditional, front-hinged clamshell bonnet. The company's design philosophy is simple: use only genuine materials, including carbon fibre, leather, veneer, polished stainless steel, brushed aluminium and chromed metal.

It is powered by a 5.0-litre supercharged V8, which sends a supercar-like 410kW of power and 680Nm of torque to the rear wheels. Carbon-fibre panels and an aluminium chassis help to keep kerb weight less than 1600 kilograms.

It accelerates from 0-100km/h in less than four seconds on its way to an electronically limited top speed of 300km/h, the company says.