• by Karl Greenberg , January 29, 2013

Jaguar -- which introduced the F-Type, its first sports car in about half a century at last year's Paris Auto Show -- is launching a social media campaign to tout the convertible. The car is meant to compete with both the less expensive BMW Z and Porsche Boxster and more expensive Porsche 911.

Jaguar also focused on the car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit with an event the night before, in which the company talked about the coupe as a way to bring a new kind of buyer into the brand. The F-Type is also the least expensive car in Jaguar's lineup, at about $65,000.

The  #CaptureAJag online photo contest invites social fans, influencers, amateur photographers and Jaguar enthusiasts to submit their best photo of a Jaguar car for a chance to be among the first to test drive the new vehicle.

The company has rolled out a complete social media campaign with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Instagram and FourSquare accounts.

At the Detroit show, the company -- a division of Tata Motors -- revealed big plans to expand the Jaguar and Land Rover brands worldwide. The company, which said it increased global sales 30% last year, also announced that it will increase its global dealer count by around 25% with over 3,000 sales points in four years. The focus, as is the case with a lot of automakers, will be on the BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India and China), said company executives.  

In the U.S. the company has done fairly limited marketing for the F-Type -- a tactic that makes sense, given the minuscule number of people who can afford the car and want a ragtop coupe. 

The company last year launched a short film featuring actor Damian Lewis, called "Desire," with co-stars Jordi Molla and Shannyn Sossamon. The film and other info about the car also appear on a new site, www.ftype.com.