Jaguar has spent the past two years setting fire to the brand’s old leather-and-wood rulebook. After extensively teasing its future direction, including via some controversial marketing that got tongues wagging last year, we finally know what the result looks like.
This is the Jaguar Type 01: a 5.2 metre-long, four-door electric GT with 757kW of power, 1365Nm of torque, up to 720km of range, and an Australian starting price of about $300,000.
In other words, this is Jaguar repositioning itself up into Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT and BMW i7 territory. But the Type 01 is considerably more bespoke than those vehicles and looks like nothing else on the road.
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We’ve seen the near-production car at Jaguar’s UK headquarters ahead of today’s world premiere, and the big surprise is that the show-stopping styling works considerably better in the metal than the online discourse might have prepared you for.
Jaguar’s brand reset campaign was deliberately provocative and predictably polarising, to say the least. But the Type 01 itself feels far more resolved, and under the skin, it is an impressive and sophisticated engineering effort.
Global Jaguar chief Rawdon Glover says the brand is confident it can succeed where other high-end EVs have failed to gain traction in the past.
“Part of the reason that EVs have not sold at higher price points is much of the design has been too homogeneous,” said Glover.
Styling-wise, it’s got incredible presence and aura: the Type 01 is very long but also very low, with the 118kWh battery and power-electronic components painstakingly packaged to ensure the roofline sits just 1403mm high. That’s barely taller than the old F-Type sports car.
Walking around the car, there’s also this almost villainous quality to the Type 01’s silhouette – particularly in dark colours, and we think an all-black configuration would really suit this car. Nobody is going to mistake this for an S-Class or 7 Series, that’s for sure.
The extreme proportions are set off further by standard 23-inch wheels, which account for more than half the overall height of the vehicle, and a near 900mm stretch between the front axle and doors – what Jaguar calls the “luxury gap”.
Concept car-like styling cues include the incredibly narrow headlight cluster (with a single-line signature) and a very architectural, glassless rear end that incorporates taillights hidden beneath 1970s-style louvres. Backward visibility is via a camera (à la Polestar 4).
Underneath the skin sits a brand-new Jaguar Electric Architecture platform promising 350kW charging, with over 300km of range able to be added back in just 13 minutes.
Three electric motors generate massive power to propel the Type 01 from 0-100km/h in 3.2 seconds, and then on to 180km/h in a further four seconds.
The platform will spawn an SUV-like model, most likely in 2028, while a future adaptation could even see a return to a two-door evoking the spirit of the E-Type and XJS.
Inside, the Type 01 is modern luxury rather than the old-school London club-like feel that characterised Jaguar’s previous XJ flagship sedan, with a strongly modernist aesthetic reminiscent of mid-century interior design.
Unadorned leather or Ultrafabrics seat upholstery combines with brass-inspired anodised aluminium trim around a prominent central spine that divides this into a dedicated four-seater.
Tech has been minimised, with a surprisingly subtle OLED digital driver’s display joined by a small seven-inch climate and audio panel between the front seats. A 38-speaker Meridian stereo will be standard, as will heated, cooled and massaging chairs.
Later, Jaguar will launch a full-on Bespoke program for one-to-one personalisation of the Type 01’s interior materials, inlays (which will include stone), and paint colours for ultimate customisation.