Jaguar boss: 'We didn't take time to explain why we had to change'

Rawdon Glover, mangaging director of Jaguar, is the man charged with steering the beloved brand through its rebirth – and it hasn't all been smooth sailing.

After Autocar finished riding in the brand's 1000-plus-bhp electric GT for the first time, we sat down with Glover to discuss the rebrand and what comes next. This is what he had to say...

Is this first new-gen Jaguar now finished?

"It's nearly finished. You rode in a prototype of the production car, and we've now built around 150 prototypes of the finished car to complete all the testing we need to do: aerodynamics, crash testing, dynamics and much more. That's very well advanced." 

How would you define the driving characteristics of the new Jaguar?

"We're really excited about its dynamic character. We went back through the best Jaguars of the past to isolate their best driving features. They have things like power in reserve, comfort at high speed, refinement, a quality of being always engaging without being out-and-out sports cars. We think 'GT' is the right description for this car." 

Another phase of the launch starts today. How will the reveal proceed?

"We'll take the covers off the production model next summer, but there will be a variety of build-up activities leading up to that. Deliveries should start around the end of the year." 

Are we still right to quote a price of £120,000?

"We believe the core price will be £117,000 to £120,000 but there's a design vision that owners who choose the highest-output model and take advantage of the opportunities we'll provide to personalise their cars could pay £150,000 or more.  There's a big gap between the top of the premium car class at about £110,000 and the uber-luxury class Bentley and Rolls at £200,000 and more. That gap is where we're aiming." 

You seem to have rediscovered your heritage again. How will you use it in future?

"A lot has been made of how we've used our heritage. The past is vital after all, we're in our 90th year but perhaps we haven't explained well enough that Jaguar shouldn't want to repeat itself.  It's not in our DNA. Look at the step from E-Type to XJS. One of my key learnings since we first showed the Concept 00 a year ago has been that we didn't take enough time to explain why Jaguar had to change. When you lay that out clearly, people tend to get it."