Jaguar’s electric avenue

I’m no petrolhead, far from it, but I am fascinated by the new Jaguar Type 01 that was launched in New York last week.

You may remember that when the Type 00 concept car was revealed in 2024 it was a sensation for several reasons, not all of them good.

One, it was fully electric. Nothing unusual in that, but it came with the revelation that Jaguar intended to stop manufacturing petrol and diesel cars, abandoning its traditional customers by replacing every existing model with three luxury electric models, each one costing well in excess of £100,000.

Two, the concept car came in two colours, Barbie pink and electric blue, but it was the pink version that grabbed all the headlines, resembling as it did a 21st century version of Lady Penelope’s Rolls Royce in Thunderbirds. (Others compared the design to a Gotham style Batmobile.)

Three, Jaguar’s polarising PR campaign led to a host of ‘go woke, go broke’ type headlines, with commentators (and leading articles) quick to suggest the company had taken leave of its senses. Personally I thought both the PR campaign and concept car were bold and brave moves, albeit they did suggest a last throw of the dice by a company that has struggled for decades to compete with the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes despite producing some perfectly decent executive cars like the XE, the XF, and the F-Pace, all now discontinued.

Since then, whether by design (no pun intended) or as a result of the backlash, both the chief executive and chief creative officer have left the company but, unusually, Jaguar has remained true to the Type 00 because concept cars rarely make it to production without significant changes and the on-road vehicle often bears little resemblance to the original design which may prove too impractical, and expensive, to produce.

In fact, the car unveiled last week looks very similar to the concept car revealed in 2024, albeit the vehicle featured at last week’s launch was a much more conservative colour. (It looked silver to me, but I understand it may be a very pale blue.) The pink version has been dropped, but there is an arresting ‘London red’ option, a limited edition that helps bump up the price from £130k to something north of £145k.

If you’re interested in learning more about the car (which continues to divide opinion) I would recommend an insightful online review by journalist Harry Metcalfe, co-founder of the performance car magazine Evo. Interestingly, Metcalfe is also a farmer (what is it about motoring journalists and farming?) who used his agricultural interests to underwrite the launch of Evo which he later sold for a tidy profit.

One question remains unanswered, though. Who is going to buy a car that is way beyond the means of most existing Jaguar drivers, but is cheaper and therefore less of a status symbol than an all electric Bentley or Rolls Royce? As for practicality … I refer you to Harry Metcalfe’s review (below).

It does look fantastic, though.

Home page photo credit: iStock / jax10289