There’s a reason the Jaguar Type 01 looks that way, but the logic isn’t all sound
The bold new Jaguar Type 01 has a divisive look by design, but this isn’t where the criticism should lie
It looked as if they were shooting the next Batman. The scale and grandeur of the Jaguar Type 01 reveal event in New York was off the charts, the surrounding pavements strewn with filming equipment and photographers to capture the arriving stars. Ferried to the venue in a convoy of Range Rovers, traffic was abruptly stopped specifically for us to pass through a beam of light spanning an intersection, designed to resemble the ‘strikethrough’ signature of this new car.
The event was huge, undoubtedly costly and clearly the result of a no-expenses-spared approach to marketing this new car. I’ve never seen a car revealed in such an extravagant manner in my time as a journalist, but I think I know why. This event wasn’t for the Type 01, it was for the relaunch of Jaguar as a whole.
> New Jaguar Type 01 arrives at last - inside the crucial EV with the men who made it
The Type 01 may be a new electric saloon designed to tackle some very credible rivals head-on, but just as this event was designed to reintroduce us all to the brand, the car also serves as a way to introduce buyers to models elsewhere in the lineup.
Jaguar picked this design from a total of 18 and put all of its engineering might (and budget) into creating a production car as faithful to a concept as we’ve ever seen. Inviting an engineer back from retirement in order to master the fabrication technique required to stamp its vast aluminium ‘impossible panel’ – the rear-quarter panel with its complex shapes and crisp lines – is one of many examples of how far it took things.
Speaking to evo, designer Alexey Andreev said: 'Everyone, not just the designers, the engineering teams, the commercial teams, everyone said we’re going to make this. We felt the might of the whole company get behind that mission, so when you were with an engineer in a room talking about the impossible panel, you weren’t trying to sell to them why you need to make the impossible panel with no split lines through it. Everyone agreed.’ This car doesn’t look this way by accident.
Jaguar will tell you the Type 01 looks this way because it wanted to bring the long-bonnet, GT spirit of its heritage into this EV, and while that is quite clear, it serves an even greater purpose. The shock value of such a radical design gets people talking, making it an effective element of what is already an extreme marketing campaign; some may dislike the design, but as they’re standing in a Jaguar showroom complaining, they might just place an order for one of its incoming alternatives.
Seeing it out in the context of Manhattan traffic, I think it looks spectacular, but I do have one reservation about the choices Jaguar made. Launching a bold statement car with questionable practicality as a flagship is nothing new, but applying that formula to a 5.2m-long saloon is. Its sheer size will make it a tough sell for those simply looking to buy a statement car, and while it might have Mercedes S-class dimensions, its unusual packaging and a tight rear door aperture will exclude it as an option for most chauffeur fleets. The fact we have such an interesting new saloon car on the market is something that should be celebrated, but its use case does seem limited in my eyes.
I’m not sure exactly who the Jaguar Type 01 is for, but then I don’t think sales are the only way it will contribute to the relaunch of this iconic British brand.
