If you’ve read Auto Express regularly or followed the auto industry closely over the past three years, you won’t have escaped the furore surrounding Jaguar – both its initial demise as a legacy premium brand, and its impending reinvention as a player in the Bentley-battling luxury market.
But this week, after months of spy shots, drip-fed teaser images and piecemeal prototype drives, the covers finally come off the Jaguar Type 01: a £120,000, four-door, four-seat electric grand tourer, and a new dawn for the brand. Today is the day Jaguar hopes to silence its critics once and for all.
The first thing we must all do, as observers and enthusiasts in the automotive space, is erase any preconceived ideas of what we think a Jaguar ought to be – what it looks or feels like, what it represents and who it needs to appeal to.
The days of staid, wood and leather-lined three-box limousines with silky-smooth straight-six engines are behind us; the electric era requires a hard reset for brands and buyers alike. While it might not suit everyone, Jaguar’s plan is to ‘copy nothing’ and elevate the firm beyond the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes.
This isn’t uncharted territory for JLR. The business and its dealers have been selling six-figure Range Rovers since the turn of the millennium – and to great effect. They know this market. The EV angle might be a tough sell for some, but like the car itself, it’s a statement about Jag’s future and commitment to change.
It’s a monumental gamble – arguably the boldest in British automotive history – but one that, on early evidence, gives the marque an identity and sense of purpose that have been missing in recent times. Whether it translates into hard sales is a question for tomorrow, but as an audacious assertion of intent, I’m struggling to think of any manufacturer that’s as outwardly confident as this new and rejuvenated Jaguar.
The cat is finally out of the bag, but it will be months before we see if the company’s bold rhetoric is more than just hot air. If the forthcoming shooting brakes and SUVs can catapult Jaguar back to where it belongs, then its relaunch could go down in history as something of a marketing masterclass…