Jaguar has been talking about a drastic brand revolution for months. First, it said it was going all EV. Then, it shocked the world by announcing a plan to stop vehicle production entirely for a year, to regroup and prepare for its upcoming new vehicles. Following that bombshell announcement, the famed British brand launched an ad campaign teasing its new brand image and went viral, for better or worse. The dust has only started to settle, and the first concept car has emerged: The Jaguar Type 00.
Ironically, this new Type 00 Concept isn’t as radical as Jag made it sound in the lead-up. After all that noise about going in a new direction—showing off stylish models in funky clothing and even changing its logotype with a SpongeBob meme-like mixture of capital and lowercase letters—the result is far more conventional than the Brits let on. Sure, it’s boxy as hell, has an air conditioner for a rear end, and lacks a rear window, but none of that is especially new.
Its profile is surprisingly old-school. Since the Type 00 is an EV, it doesn’t need a long hood and short rear deck, and yet it has both. Such a design silhouette harks back to grand touring cars of old, like the iconic Jaguar E-Type. And with its long roofline, the Type 00 reminds me of the Cadillac Celestiq, a grand compliment indeed. Even the lack of a rear window isn’t groundbreaking, as Polestar also (questionably) decided to forgo a rear window for rearview cameras. As different as this is for a Jaguar, it’s far from the most radical-looking concept we’ve seen
No matter how lampooned Jag’s marketing has been, I’m not afraid to compliment the Type 00. This is a good-looking, well-proportioned two-seat grand tourer with muscular wheel arches, a great dash-to-axle ratio, and a cool window line. Admittedly, it’s a little too boxy and the headlights look silly, but this isn’t the final production-ready design. That upright grille looks like a pedestrian safety nightmare, and the pop-out cameras concealed by rectangular ingot inserts might not suffice for side mirrors. If Jag can smooth out the front end, bring back the animalistic Jaguar emblems, and take the HVAC vents off the back, the Type 00 might clean up in the design department. The press release even states that it has “dramatic butterfly doors,” which we get a tiny peek at in one of the images below.
I wish Jag brought considerably more creativity to the car’s interior design. You can copy and paste the Type 00 interior into almost any EV concept, replace the steering wheel logo, and no one would bat an eye. It’s yet another ultra-minimalist show car interior with some natural materials (wool in this case) and a touch of interesting trim. Credit where credit’s due, the hand-finished brass trim on the door cards and the odd cabin-bisecting armrest look great. The rest of it is a yawn, though, which is disappointing because the Type 00 was made out to be some revolutionary design statement from a brand that’s reimagining itself for the first time in decades. Where’s the revolutionary interior, JaGuar?
The Type 00 is the first car designed with Jag’s new JEA (Jaguar Electrical Architecture) all-electric platform in mind. It’s also the first to use the company’s new nomenclature. Keeping “Type” in the name sticks to the brand’s heritage, but the “00” is the beginning of a new naming structure in which the first zero represents the tailpipe emissions, and the second represents the model status in Jag’s new lineup, as the first product of this reborn brand.
Unfortunately, Jaguar mentioned almost nothing about potential specs. What we do know is that the company’s next production car will debut at the end of 2025, and that it will be a four-door GT with a projected range of up to 430 miles on a charge as well as the ability to replenish 200 miles worth of juice in 15 minutes of rapid charging.
Great, but the lack of any mechanical details relevant to performance is disappointing, especially coming from the brand that once broke the top speed record and made an outrageous supercar rivaling the Ferrari F40. Jaguar was a brand that valued engineering as much as style. Its “Grace, Pace, and Space” slogan started in the 1960s and always felt like its brand ethos, even when its cars didn’t deliver as well as they should have. It’s discouraging to see this peek at Jag’s reinvention end the conversation at design.
Jaguar wants to move upmarket with the Type 00, too. Rather than compete with BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Lexus, the marque looks to hang with the likes of Porsche and even Bentley. The Type 00 will need to be snazzy inside and command more visual attention, but it’ll also need to drive with authority, because customers of those rival brands won’t settle for anything less.
So Jaguar has to continue to build fast, great-driving cars, even in this clean-slate era. If the Type 00’s eventual production version (the Type 01?) maintains the good aspects of this concept, like its silhouette and muscular wheel arches, while adding impressive performance and meeting its range target, then Jag just might be able to pull this revolution off. But if it’s just a design exercise for fashionistas, high-end customers might choose to spend their big bucks elsewhere. Here’s hoping the real revolution isn’t being televised yet.
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