Jaguar’s controversial transformation into an all-electric carmaker moved into a new phase today, as the British marque unveiled what it describes as “one of the most eagerly awaited cars in recent history”.
As part of a dramatic rebrand for the 91-year-old manufacturer, Jaguar stopped selling all petrol and diesel models in December last year.
The strategy triggered fierce criticism, including from Donald Trump, after the company launched an unconventional campaign featuring androgynous models in brightly coloured, avant-garde clothing. Notably, the adverts showed no cars at all.
Now, the new Type 01 has been unveiled during a high-profile New York takeover. Jaguar says the electric grand tourer will help “reposition” the brand by targeting the luxury market and selling fewer vehicles at substantially higher prices.
The new electric car is expected to cost roughly twice the average price of Jaguar’s previous combustion-engined models, with prices starting at about £120,000.
Its headline figures include enormous 23-inch wheels, more than 1,000 horsepower and a claimed real-world driving range of 400 miles.
Measuring 5.2 metres in length, the imposing four-door GT can accelerate from rest to 62mph in just 3.2 seconds. Jaguar says the Type 01 will “never arrive unnoticed”.
Jaguar’s daring electric rebirth: The British brand has unveiled its new Type 01 four-door GT, with customer deliveries due to begin next year
The launch comes nearly two years after Jaguar revealed its radical rebrand in November 2024. The campaign featured distinctive fashion models and bold slogans including “Copy Nothing”, “Delete Ordinary”, “Break Moulds” and “Live Vivid” — but no vehicles.
Jaguar also confirmed that it would retire its famous “growler” badge, depicting a snarling jaguar, in favour of a more modern visual identity.
Just two weeks later, the brand intensified the controversy by unveiling the Type 00, an electric concept offering a preview of its zero-emission future. The show car was finished in a Barbie-style satin pink.
The rebrand drew unprecedented criticism from Jaguar owners, members of the public and prominent figures including Elon Musk and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
US President Trump labelled the overhaul “seriously woke” and a “total disaster”, claiming it had left Jaguar in “absolute turmoil”.
However, after the Type 01 was finally revealed in New York last night, managing director Rawdon Glover told Our News Outlet that he believed the car would appeal to a younger, urban audience who “want to make a strong statement about themselves”.
Mr Glover accepted that the electric car’s dramatic proportions and divisive styling would not appeal to everyone.
He said: “I am worldly enough to know that for some people it’s perhaps too bold. And that’s OK.”
The striking electric saloon is expected to cost from £120,000, while higher-specification versions are set to exceed £150,000
Executives say the strategy is to “reposition” Jaguar and secure the future of the 90-year-old British manufacturer by selling fewer vehicles at a higher price point
Join the discussion
Has Jaguar turned its back on its heritage by pursuing luxury buyers with a bold new electric design?
The company previously stated it expects 85 per cent of customers buying its next generation of EVs to be new to the brand as the carmaker veers in an entirely different direction in terms of powertrain, styling and price.
But its managing director says some 50,000 people have already expressed an interest in being ‘kept informed’ about Type 01’s availability, with 78 per cent non-Jaguar owners, suggesting a slightly higher retention rate than originally predicted.
‘Jaguar was absolutely at a crossroads. We realised we needed to make some really big decisions about where we went next with the brand,’ Glover said.
‘Our client base was shrinking and ageing. That’s not a great combination. And if you look at the commercial performance of the Jaguar brand, all those things pointed us in one direction.
‘We had to do something much bolder and take a very big step forward.’
The Type 01 is the most aerodynamic Jaguar ever and is just 4ft 6in high, with battery-cooling vanes at the front and a spoiler at the rear.
It is also the structurally stiffest and most powerful road car the company has produced.
The monumental 5.2m-long four-door grand tourer will ‘never arrive unnoticed,’ Jaguar says
A tri-motor setup, with two electric motors at the rear and one at the front, produces 1,015 horsepower and 1,035 Newton metres of torque, with drive sent to all four wheels.
Even more impressive than its 0 to 60mph time is its acceleration from 62 to 112mph, which takes just four seconds – the result of Jaguar’s focus on reviving a tradition of delivering cars with ‘power in reserve’.
At its heart is a 118kWh battery that delivers up to 450 miles of range under the official WLTP test cycle used to ratify all new models entering showrooms.
But Jaguar says its own tests show the Type 01 will cover 400 miles in real-world conditions and as much as 320 miles when driven continuously at motorway speeds.
Its 850-volt charging set-up also gives it the ability to add 200 miles of range in just 13 minutes.
Customers will be able to place orders from early 2027, with first deliveries expected after the middle of the year. Glover says it will not be the best-selling model in Jaguar’s forthcoming line-up, but it will be the most striking.
It will be built in Solihull, and although annual production output has not been disclosed, the volume will be a fraction of the petrol Jaguars produced in recent years.
It will undoubtedly be joined by a Type 02 and possibly a Type 03 model in the coming years, one of which is almost certain to be an SUV.
At just 1.4m high, built on a bespoke platform and using a tri-motor setup, the Type 01 is the most aerodynamic, stiffest and most powerful Jaguar road car ever
Jaguar Type 01: Design
Our News Outlet and This is Money were granted early access to the new Type 01 a few weeks before the New York reveal. In fact, it was the third time we’d seen the car without it being decked out in camouflage.
And, without question, it will be the sheer scale and polarising design of the electric four-door saloon that generates the most conversation and controversy.
Jaguar says the EV demanded ‘exuberant proportions’ to create a sense of ‘drama from every angle’.
This is amplified by the Type 01’s monolithic body, which features expansive panels with few shut lines to create a reductive, sculpturesque appearance.
The slab-fronted grille, elongated bonnet and visor-like frameless windows (the doors are frameless too) accentuate its vast size, as does the slimline four-light arrangement at the front. These are just 3.3in tall (the narrowest headlights ever on a Jag) that each contain 17,000 pixels.
The absence of a rear window only serves to further exaggerate its epic dimensions.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Fake NYC Doctor Faces Murder Charge in Anti-Aging Injection Death
Yet it also looks planted on the road.
This is largely thanks to its colossal 23in wheels, fitted as standard, which account for more than half of the Type 01’s total height and give the impression of the car being hunkered down to the ground.
The face of the car features four incredibly narrow lights. The design team at Jaguar says this is to make it distinctive when you seen it coming up behind you on the motorway at night
Measuring in at 17ft in length – much of that being its enormous, flat bonnet – it’s as big as a long-wheel-base Range Rover
The leaper logo’s strikethrough design is carried across elements of the car, including the top of the bonnet and running seamlessly into the cockpit at the top of the dashboard
I can tell you there is some subtlety to the design that you’ll only begin to appreciate when you see the Jag in the metal.
There’s a curvature to the doors that photographs of the satin-silver car almost disguise, while the ‘Impossible Panel’ – the three-metre-long section of bodywork that meets at numerous angles to create an arrowhead-like indentation in the rear quarter panel – is nothing short of a work of art.
The redesigned Leaper logo’s strikethrough element is also carried across various sections of the car, not just the bronze-effect aluminium signatures behind the front wheel arches.
The batten-style hallmark is used for both the front grille and rear light cluster, with the brake lights and indicators concealed within the upper sections (a third brake light sits flush in the tailgate above the active spoiler).
These straight lines are mirrored from the top edge of the bonnet onto the upper section of the cockpit to create a sense of continuity. And the motif is repeated on the door mirrors and the interior rear panel leading into the 450-litre boot compartment that’s a modern twist of the classic E-Type’s stowage area.
One of the most impressive design features of Type 01 is the ‘Impossible Panel’ above the rear wheels where the aluminium bodywork meets at three different angles. Jaguar had to create a bespoke body press to create it
The batten-style strikethrough hallmark has inspired both the grille and rear light cluster, with the brake lights and indicators concealed within the upper sections
With a drag coefficient of 0.23Cd, this is the most aerodynamic Jaguar ever.
Not only does it better the F-Type Coupé (0.34Cd), it’s not far short of the slipperiest production car on the market, the American electric Lucid Air, which has a Cd figure of 0.197.
Glover says Jaguar will retain some control over the specification and finish of the initial cars delivered to clients, with customers able to choose from a range of satin and gloss paint finishes.
Well-heeled buyers willing to wait a few months are likely to gain access to JLR’s bespoke personalisation programme, where they can add individual touches and create unique paint finishes, all at a premium, of course.
My opinion on the looks
Jaguar has been incredibly open about the fact that this car isn’t going to be to everyone’s taste.
In fact, I get the distinct impression it’s expecting plenty of criticism, especially after the furore surrounding its controversial rebrand announcement two years ago and accusations that it had turned its back on almost a century of heritage.
However, Jaguar’s top brass remain steadfast in their belief that the Type 01 and the company’s wider strategy represent far more than a change in powertrain. This is a complete transformation of the brand’s identity.
It no longer wants to be a mainstream player. Instead, it’s targeting a smaller share of the highly lucrative luxury market.
And with more eyes on Jaguar than ever before, you have to wonder whether there’s really any such thing as bad publicity for this new era of electric Jags.
Motoring Editor Rob Hull is just 5ft7 tall, which shows just how low the Jaguar Type 01’s roof is
Do I personally like the way it looks? In parts, yes. But certainly not in its entirety.
But the question I’ve been asking myself for months is whether I’m Jaguar’s target audience going forward.
Young? Not any more. Urban? Nope. Affluent? I wish. Obsessed with technology? Absolutely not.
So this isn’t a car aimed at me at all.
And that’s precisely why Jaguar couldn’t give two hoots about what I, or anyone else like me, thinks.
Jaguar Type 01: Battery and charging
The total capacity of Type 01’s lithium-ion battery is 120kWh, though just 118kWh is usable. And its safety is monitored constantly.
While the car will be officially ratified with a 450-mile range, Jaguar’s own tests suggest 400 miles is the achievable distance between charges.
That should be enough for its usual client base; its analysis of 920,000 JLR vehicles found that 99.7 per cent of its cars never covered more than 303 miles in one driving stint.
The brand’s advanced battery management software continuously checks the health of every cell. If it detects an overheating issue, Jaguar says it can isolate an individual cell in as little as five milliseconds.
As a result, the Type 01’s battery is covered by an eight-year or 100,000-mile warranty.
It also features JLR’s ThermAssist technology, which is being rolled out across the Range Rover Electric and Range Rover Sport Electric.
This system automatically directs available thermal energy to where it is needed most for maximum efficiency, whether that’s the battery to accelerate charging speeds or the cabin to provide warmth on a winter morning. By transferring heat in this way, the battery cells can be maintained at their optimum operating temperature, helping to extend battery life.
While the Type 01’s 850-volt architecture enables charging speeds of up to 350kW, Jaguar says ultra-rapid chargers capable of delivering that output are not yet widely available in most countries, including the UK.
To address this, the battery features split-charging capability to charge the battery in two sections, allowing up to 250kW from a suitable 400-volt charger.
One clever touch is the inclusion of charging ports on both front wings of the Type 01.
Both support AC charging at up to 22kW, meaning drivers don’t need to worry about which side the charging socket is on when pulling up to a public charger at the roadside or a friend’s home wallbox. The right-hand port also supports DC charging.
Inside, a 24in OLED display stretches from behind the steering wheel to the centre of the dashboard, while minimalist seats and plush fabrics feature throughout
This central spine runs through the centre of the car to split the Type 01’s cabin into four compartments. Inside are cupholders, cubbies and venting for rear passengers
Jaguar Type 01: Interior
We were given an earlier preview of the Type 01’s interior in August.
You can read our full cabin report here.
What we’ve most recently discovered is that
