Jaguar has revealed the Type 01, the electric GT on which the brand's future rests.
Five years ago Jaguar, unprofitable for years, found itself in a life-threatening quandary. The political situation surrounding large petrol and diesel cars was changing fast, propelled by onrushing EV technology. The company was also caught in a crossfire of rival premium marques, whose traditional buyer base was in rapid decline.
Something had to be done, and there were three options: close Jaguar and lose vast sums for no gain; make cost-cutting tweaks to the existing cars and hope for better times; or produce a range of cars to relive the shock and desire of the E-Type 65 years ago. Choosing the third option, at a cost of about £2.25 billion, has produced the Type 01.
It begins a radical new future for the marque, lifting it out of the executive class price range it has inhabited for its 90-plus years into a new, higher class between top-end Mercedes and bottom-end Bentley. Jaguar said around £150,000 will buy you a well-equipped car.
The Type 01 is a 1000bhp, four-door, all-aluminium GT saloon. It is 5.2m long-only a handspan shorter than a Bentley Flying Spur - with a wheelbase of 3.2m. It has a cab-rearward design with a very long nose and a low roof.
Seen in the metal it is indeed "a copy of nothing" - the description coined for Jaguar by company founder Sir William Lyons and often repeated by the firm since its rebrand - though this hasn't stopped Jaguar insiders drawing comparisons to the long-nosed XJS of the mid-1970s, which replaced the ubiquitous E-Type of 1961 with something quite different.
Design
Jaguar conducted extensive customer research, which suggested that key buyer priorities for a new Jaguar model were how it would look inside and out, and what it would say about its owners. The company said there was much concentration on "soul" and "personality", together with concern about quality of execution. Any worry about the Type 01's use of electric propulsion came lower down the priority list.
