Jaguar's internet-breaking Type 00 concept has made its UK public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, just months before the firm reveals the production version of the radical electric super-GT that will start its new era.
The concept was revealed late last year as a statement of intent for the reinvention of Jaguar, which has taken all of its models off sale for a year while it lays the groundwork for a new range of all-electric luxury cars in a far higher price bracket.
The first of these will be revealed at the end of this year as a sleek, four-door GT with up to 986bhp and a design that departs completely from Jaguar's past line-up - both inside and out, as previewed by the Type 00. Due in production in the middle of next year, it will be followed by two more luxury cars, thought to include a larger limousine-style saloon and a Bentley Bentayga-rivalling SUV.
The concept car is a two-door fixed-head coupé, a body type we’re told will not be built. But it has perhaps been artfully chosen because it loosely echoes the layout of the 1961 Jaguar E-Type, the car nearly everyone cites as the leader of a previous great leap forward in Jaguar design.
Company insiders say the concept coupé’s size, proportions and, above all, its design style are all “very close” to the brand’s first next-generation production car: a blocky Porsche Taycan-rivalling super-GT that has been recently pictured testing. That car and its radical styling were first revealed by Autocar back in 2023, and the Type 00 concept shows how accurate our sources were.
This will be the first of three models to be launched, with about a year between them, on the new purpose-designed JEA architecture. That platform will, Jaguar estimates, offer as much as 430 miles of range and the ability to add 200 miles with 15 minutes of charge. This would suggest power being drawn from a battery in excess of 100kWh, but Jaguar has yet to confirm a pack size.
This concept is the product of an exhaustive process that led designers to produce 13 full-size models on the way, and its maturity shows. All were avant-garde, according to design chief Gerry McGovern. “Anything iterative would not have taken us where we wanted to go,” he said.
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"Copy Nothing" obviously doesn't apply to pencil cases.
Very lazy styling that doesn't do anything for me. Seems like the leftists have infiltrated and successfully destroyed another beloved brand.
For something like Jaguar with a certain image and customer base, they should've done something that mixes nostalgia with a modern direction, not gone out of their way to shock and even offend. If Renault / Fiat / Mini / Rolls Royce can hit sales success with retro influences that appeal to the heart, why couldn't Jaguar?
Actually, it also reminds me of the tacky / cheap looking interpretations of modern cars in 80's sci-fi films like Robocop.
If it was smaller maybe, but, it's a bit super Mario nation, a bit lady Penelope, a car you'd see in a computer game.
I am a traditional Jaguar guy. I have 3 and have a goal of owning at least one from each distinct era. I am not their target demo here. I understand that and, believe it or not, a comfortable with reality that I can accept that fact. I love these, honestly. I have always been a bit avante garde myself, hence why I have been a Jaguar loyaist for so long as it stands. This is just an interation. I am not a huge "EV's are gonna save the world" guy, but do like them for what they are. Same reason I like Go-Karts, and Motorcycles, and ATVs. They just GO and all GO in a different way. Same thing here. For now, I would for sure buy one of these to occupy my every growing livery on my farm. That being said, I am not a brand new car buyer. Never have been and this will be no different. I assume that Jaguar will be unable to escape that killer Jaguar depreciation, so I will not lay down the $120k for one, but would probably buy after the depreciation. I wish them well. After all, I have loved the brand for 36 years now. They must change and adapt to move forward. If this doesnt' work out, well..they'll figure it out and hopefully make better changes.