Jaguar Type 01: Controversial new electric GT gets a name
Jaguar’s comeback looms closer, with the company revealing that Type 01 will be the name of the model to spearhead its rebirth
Development of Jaguar’s upcoming all-electric four-door GT is entering its final phase, with prototype cars on the road wearing a reduced level of camouflage, ahead of its reveal in Autumn 2026. And now the most controversial car in Jaguar’s history also has a name: Type 01.
If you’re wondering where the name comes from, the ‘0’ references the zero tailpipe emissions, while the ‘1’ indicates that this is the first Jaguar in the company’s new era. The ‘Type’ meanwhile is the link to Jaguar’s past, where the C-type first appeared in 1951.
> Jaguar Type 01 prototype review – driving 2026's most controversial new car
Producing more than 986bhp and 959lb ft the all-electric four-door GT will be revealed later in 2026 before reaching the first customers in 2027. Expected to cost from at least £120,000, Jaguar’s future hinges on the success of its all-electric strategy. Rumours that the firm is hastily reengineering the Type 01 to take a hybrid powertrain are wide of the mark, with the Type 01 too far along its engineering journey to be redeveloped to accommodate an internal combustion engine.
Experiencing the Type 01 from both the passenger seat at Gaydon and from behind the wheel in Sweden during cold weather testing, the new Jaguar is taking a very different approach to other all-electric, high-power saloon cars.
Where the likes of Porsche’s Taycan and any number of Chinese rivals you care to mention (or can remember), the Jaguar has been designed to focus on luxury and refinement rather than outright performance. A characteristic from Jaguar’s saloon cars of old. That’s not to say the Type 01’s dynamics have been ignored, with the car undergoing extensive testing to make the most of the significant investment in hardware and software JLR has made in its make-or-break car.
Until now prototypes photographed in the UK, Spain and at the Nürburgring have worn an extensive disguises, distorting the shape and detailing with misleading shapes and false panels under a patterned wrap.
The latest generation of prototypes that are completing the Type 01’s testing are given away by 2025 registration numbers and a level of disguise that shows more of the car’s true style. Internal ID stickers on these latest cars include the letters VB for ‘verification build’ – JLR-speak for later phase prototypes built with production-spec parts.
We encountered one of these new development Jaguar Type 01s on the road in Warwickshire, and it had real presence – the finished car is believed to be over five metres long – but didn’t seem so wide as to be unmanageable on a British B-road. Without many of the false panels of earlier prototypes, the low, swooping shape of the car is apparent, along with the subtle sculpting of the wheel arches and body sides which seem more shapely than those of the brutalist concept car.
At the rear, the window-less hatchback is now clearly visible but there appear to be fake panels on the tail, hiding a retractable spoiler and a taper similar to that of the original Type 00 concept.
The four-door Type 01 saloon will form the basis for Jaguar’s reinvention as an all-electric brand, with a coupe-style SUV set to follow and, potentially, a two-door coupe if everything goes to plan. Not that this is a given considering the catastrophic fall in sales of premium electric vehicles.
Built on a totally new 800-volt electric architecture called JEA, this new GT is among a family of electric Jaguars. A claimed range of around 500 miles will be fed by a sizable battery – circa 100 to 150kwh with today’s technology. The upshot of this is the Jaguar’s power output ‘in excess of 986bhp’. Then again, don’t expect it to weigh much less than 2500kg.
Predictably, it’s also set to be crammed with a considerable amount of the latest tech, like virtual gearshifts. The latest software will also provide the broadest offering of driver modes, along with convenience features that you never thought you would need in a car and most likely will never use.
You might be aware also that JLR is launching its first all-electric Range Rover. Your perfectly reasonable expectation that the RR will feed the new Jaguar is contrary to our understanding that both cars will utilise distinct battery and motor hardware and control software. The Jaguar will be far more advanced than the Range Rover and lead JLR’s electrification product offensive.
The Range Rover is aimed at Bentley and Rolls Royce customers, although with starting prices planned to be ‘under £100,000’ it will significantly undercut Crewe’s new ‘Urban SUV’ or and any forthcoming electric Cullinen. Scheduled to be revealed in production form in 2026, Jaguar’s second all-new electric car will go into production in 2027 and be the first car the firm has produced since Castle Bromwich went dark in mid-2024.
