700bhp Jaguar F-Type Coupe with the heart of the C-X75. Really?

Will the Jaguar F-Type Coupe, when it arrives, offer a range topping version with a 700bhp version of the hybrid setup from the C-X75?

Will the Jaguar F-Type Coupe really get 700bhp?

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We’ve been expecting the Jaguar F-Type Coupe to arrive ever since the F-Type Roadster was finally revealed. And it does seem likely it will bow in at Frankfurt in September.

And when it does, we’re expecting Jaguar to deliver not just hard-top versions of the Roadster in all its power outputs – V6, V6 S and V8 S – but more powerful versions too.

Those more powerful F-Type Coupes seem likely to be an ‘R’ version with around 550bhp – just as we have in the XKR-S, XFR-S and new XJR – and an F-Type R GT which, we hope, will lose weight and get something approaching 600bhp to offer a real challenge to the Porsche 911 Turbo S.

But the latest bit of ‘You couldn’t make it up’ from Auto Express suggests that the most powerful F-Type Coupe will actually come with 700bhp, courtesy of a version of the hybrid setup from the shelved C-X75 concept.

Using the hybrid setup the C-X75 had – a 1.6 litre turbocharged and supercharged Williams engine offering 500bhp plus an electric motor on each axle – would yield the 700bhp AE allude to, but does it make sense?

We understand Jaguar will want to utilise the hybrid development with the C-X75 as it seems to offer a lot of promise, but wouldn’t it make far more sense to offer it in the next generation XK as a range topper? And isn’t it over-kill for the F-Type if the aim is to take on the 911 Turbo S?

Wouldn’t it make far more sense to get the wick in the V8 S turned up to 600bhp, find a way to shed a chunk of weight (there must be lots of ways – even though the F-Type has aluminium underpinnings it’s still a lot lardier than the 911) and pitch it at the Turbo S in the same price bracket – around £140k?

Because if the F-Type Coupe does get the heart of the C-X75, it will surely end up so expensive it would be silly?