The Jaguar Advanced Lightweight Coupe show car made its world debut today at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, Mich. The Advanced Lightweight Coupe show car heralds a new generation of stunning Jaguar sports cars and sports sedans. The car remains true to Jaguar's illustrious past but more importantly signals the company's confident leap forward into the future.

Joe Greenwell, Chairman and CEO of Jaguar Cars, introduced the show car.

"The Advanced Lightweight Coupe represents the very essence of Jaguar, its heart and soul. If you want to know what lies ahead for us, what direction we will take – this is Jaguar's answer."

The Advanced Lightweight Coupe is a physical expression of Design Director, Ian Callum's thoughts and intentions for the next generation of Jaguar cars, which like this 2+2 show car, will have purposeful and seductive exteriors that bring Jaguar design firmly into the 21st century.

The Advanced Lightweight Coupe benefits from Jaguar's advanced lightweight aluminum architecture technology that was introduced with the new XJ saloon; in production form the Advanced Lightweight Coupe would be as dynamic and agile as it is desirable.

This is a car that in unrestricted production form could reach 60 mph from standstill in less than five seconds and have potential 180 mph performance. Filled with examples of the intuitive driver technologies that are Jaguar's trademark, the Advanced Lightweight Coupe also introduces some new ones.

This is a beautiful, fast Jaguar, true to the brand's past and future. It embodies sporting luxury and represents the future of Jaguar, as an ambassador for a marque whose reputation was founded on beautiful dynamic sports cars.

"This company has had many ground-breaking moments," continued Greenwell. "The XK120 was a ground-breaker and of course the E-Type and XJ saloon in the 1960's helped to change the face of motoring. These were events in automotive design history that have stood the test of time and I would like to think that we will look back on the Advanced Lightweight Coupe as another of those moments in Jaguar's lineage."