Jaguar C-X75 hybrid super-car concept.

I may have zero chance of actually owning one, but I will follow this story closely. The car and the emerging JLR tale are fascinating in a David-and-Goliath way: JLR being David, with all the big German luxury brands – BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz – playing Goliath.

One of the pebbles JLR will use in its slingshot has been the brilliant marketing move of announcing the C-X75 production car. It is sure to become an instant collectible, a buzz-creating icon on four wheels. Fleshing out the tale over the next couple of years will be a marketer’s dream.

We know this: The C-X75 concept stunned crowds visiting the Paris Auto Show last fall and won a big best-in-show award. Going forward, the Williams Formula One racing team will assist Jag in bringing a production model to dealer showrooms. It will be rare, exclusive, fast, high-tech, stylish and no doubt all 250 will be sold before a single one rolls off a production line.

The smart money should bet that the launch of the C-X75 will coincide with a relatively massive wave of new Jaguars. The current lineup consisting of the XF (a mid-size sedan), the XJ (a large luxury saloon, including a long-wheelbase version and hot-shoe supercharged models) and the two-seat XK (coupe, convertible and high-zoot supercharged variants) is simply too limited and limiting if Jaguar ever hopes to survive, much less well and truly prosper in a big way.

This concept-becoming-reality car indicates something important: the Indian conglomerate Tata, which bought Jaguar Land Rover from Ford Motor in 2008 for $2.3-billion (U.S.), appears to be taking the long view with its British investment.

This explains why in May Tata Motors CEO Carl-Peter Forster announced a five-year Jaguar Land Rover spending program valued at a cool $7.8-billion. The money will be used to fund new models, perhaps build an engine factory in England, improve quality and production techniques, development new technologies and, with a little luck, build a new factory in China.

Ambitious? Unbelievably so. Almost shocking, in fact, especially if you’re one of the naysayers – like me – who doubted that Tata would stay the course and prop up JLR through the worst financial crisis (2008-2009) since the Great Depression.

Many expected Tata to let JLR crash and burn. Instead, Jaguar in May announced the production decision on the C-X75. Meanwhile, Land Rover is about to launch the Evoque compact SUV this fall. It will join the LR2/Freelander, the LR4/Discovery and Range Rover 4x4 lineup in the growing Land Rover stable.