Jaguar’s design boss has said the car brand has shown “fearless creativity” as he unveiled a much-hyped electric vehicle that had attracted an online backlash over its unusual marketing campaign.
Gerry McGovern, who is in charge of design for Jaguar’s parent company, told a launch event on Monday in Miami: “Some may love it now, some may love it later and some may never love it. That’s what fearless creativity does.”
The British brand revealed the new concept car, the Type 00 (pronounced “zero zero”), to set the tone for a relaunch that represents a change of strategy.
A production-ready version, a four-door Grand Tourer, is due to be revealed in late 2025, with sales expected to start in 2026.
The rebrand has already attracted far more attention than normal for a car launch after a teaser trailer – which did not feature the car itself – became the subject of polarised and often vitriolic commentary online. Elon Musk, the boss of the rival electric car brand Tesla, asked: “Do you sell cars?”
Jaguar chose the US city of Miami for the launch event during its art week as a symbol of its shift away from the premium market – in which its cars struggled to compete against Germany’s BMW and Mercedes-Benz – towards a more international, moneyed elite. The production car is expected to cost more than £100,000 when it is revealed, nearly double the average price of its previous range.
A DJ set by the British grime artist Skepta also pointed towards Jaguar’s hopes for a younger, city-dwelling audience – even if the long and bulky concept vehicle could struggle on congested city roads.
The concept model was revealed in two colours, Miami pink and London blue, a departure from Jaguar’s traditional racing green. Pictures of the car – which leaked on Monday hours before the official launch – reveal a wraparound windscreen, a long front bonnet and a rear-view video screen instead of a rear window. Wing mirrors are also replaced by cameras, while dials and entertainment screens slide out of the front dashboard.
The car also features the new Jaguar logo – the brand name written out in a sans-serif font – on the front, while a version of the “leaper” cat is only visible etched on to pop-out side cameras. The “growler” big cat badge of previous models does not feature.
Jaguar said the new car, which will be produced in Solihull in the UK, should achieve up to 478 miles of range, with rapid charging adding 200 miles of charge in 15 minutes.
Adrian Mardell, the chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), said he wanted Jaguar to be an “original British luxury brand unmatched in its heritage, artistry and emotional magnetism”.
“That’s the Jaguar we are recapturing and we will create the same sense of awe that surrounded iconic models like the E-type,” he said, referring to the sports car – a symbol of the Swinging 60s – that has long been seen as Jaguar’s design high point.
On unveiling the design, McGovern cited David Bowie, Vivienne Westwood and the architect Richard Rogers as some of his creative heroes. “They were British trailblazers who challenged convention and had no desire to copy the norm,” he said.
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Paul Barker, the editor of the car magazine Auto Express, said the Type 00 was a “striking piece of design that justifies Jaguar’s shift to an all-electric future”.
He said: “Us Brits have a peculiar knack for loving our automotive icons but not enough to actually buy them. Clearly, the status quo wasn’t working.
“The bold styling, with its bluff front end, long bonnet, fastback profile and massive 23-inch wheels, is a dramatic statement, while the stripped-back interior, complete with butterfly doors and a 3.2m brass spine, exudes minimalist luxury.”
Yet others expressed outrage. A columnist at the Daily Telegraph newspaper, whose readers include many of the over-55 men who were previously Jaguar’s target market, said he yearned for “deep blues, or serious blacks, along with plenty of walnut and tanned leather” instead of a “Barbie-mobile”.
JLR, owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata, has followed two strikingly different paths for the two brands. Its Land Rover vehicles are big earners, and so a new electric version of the Range Rover barely deviates in external design terms from the petrol equivalent.
In contrast, Jaguar sales had long languished, and so the company has opted for a complete reinvention. The company has been slower than many rivals to embrace electric cars, selling just the lauded but ageing Jaguar I-Pace, but it is investing £18bn to produce battery versions of its lineup alongside petrol cars.
Rawdon Glover, the managing director for the Jaguar brand, said the company wanted to be “true to the DNA of the brand but future facing, relevant and one that really stands out”.
