Shot in Japan, You Only Live Twice was one of Sean Connery's best James Bond movies. But we never got any good Japanese villains out of the deal, which is a bit of a shame. That's not a problem for British carmaker Jaguar, who has just the right car to top the Toyota 2000GT in terms of looks and trio of evil-doers it can ship over to the land of the rising sun.
We apologize for the cliches, but you just can't mention the F-Type Coupe without thinking of Sir Ben Kingsley, Tom Hiddleston and Mark Strong any more. Following a special launch event at the British embassy in Tokyo, the coolest two-door to come from Britain in about half a century is priced in Japan from 8,230,000 yen (€58,800 or $80,350).
That, of course, gets you only the base model with a 340 HP V6 engine, capable of 0 to 100 km/h in 5.3 seconds. For 10,290,000 yen ($100,450 or €73,570) Jaguar offers the somewhat more impressive F-Type S Coupe with 380 HP. Or you could go all-out and hand over 12,860,000 yen (€92,000 or $125,460) for the ultimate version, the 550 HP F-Type R with a supercharged V8. If the red brake calipers and 20-inch wheels don't impress you, the 4.2 seconds it takes to reach 100 km/h certainly will.
Almost 13 million yen might seem like a lot of money to pay for the top-spec Jag F-Coupe. But a Porsche 911 is even more expensive. A base 911 Carrera is 12,550,000 yen (€89,736 or $122,551), while a 4S with comparable performance is 16,550,000 yen ($161,610 or €118,353).
The launch of the British sportscar in Japan is being accompanied by the "Good to Be Bad" and "British Villains" commercials, which will begin airing on Japanese television at the end of June. The party organized by Jaguar at the United Kingdom Embassy for the F-Type Coupe's launch was attended by local celebrities Tsuchiya Anna, Angelica Michibata, Girolamo Panzetta, Melody Yoko and Neko PUNCH.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News