Jaguar used the backdrop of this week’s 2012 New York Auto Show to confirm that its new sports car based on the stunning C-X16 concept will be called the F-Type when it goes on sale in mid 2013.

The car’s construction will be mostly from aluminum, just like its big brother, the XK, and it will be offered as a convertible initially, though a coupe may arrive further down the track.

It will offer several different engine options, all of them gasoline-fueled and one new to the Jaguar lineup.

That new engine is likely to be a production version of the supercharged 3.0-liter V-6 previewed in the C-X16, which delivered 375 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque and was capable of accelerating the concept from 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds.

Speaking in New York this week, Jaguar brand director Adrian Hallmark stated, “We showed the C-X16 concept in September 2011, and the reaction to it has been so positive that we've accelerated our development of an all-new Jaguar sports car.”

Jaguar also revealed that the F-Type’s development schedule moves to final on-road testing, with engineering prototypes now leaving the automaker's Castle Bromwich plant in the UK--the same plant at which the production cars will be built. Very early test mules have already been spotted.

These teaser images of the car confirm that the new F-Type stays true to the lines of the Ian Callum-designed C-X16 concept unveiled last year, right down to the slit tail-lights. We can also see that Jaguar is employing a conventional soft-top roof, which should help keep weight and cost down. 

Jaguar’s decision to go with the F-Type name and not “XE” as previously rumored revives a naming practice that hasn’t been used since the demise of the S-Type. Incidentally, the F-Type name was last used on a convertible sports car concept unveiled by Jaguar as far back as the year 2000.

Look out for the unveiling of the F-Type in production guise at a major auto show later this year.