After an interminable lead-up, Jaguar’s new Type 01 all-electric coupe has finally appeared in production form. A genuine all-or-nothing move meant to signal a new beginning for the legendary British marque. It’s fair to say many are of the view that it could also signal the brand’s demise.
It has to be acknowledged that Jaguar needed to do something as it was selling fewer and fewer cars. Rival manufacturers were moving ahead with more modern and technologically advanced cars. Jaguar has gambled on a very radical solution, but one which has echoes of its past history.
Type 01 certainly has a strong look, rather like an automotive version of 1960s brutalist architecture. The car is big at over 5-metres long and 2.5-metres wide and the side profile is, in this writer’s opinion, striking in a good way. The front and rear aspects of the car is where most doubts seem to be with a slab front and at the rear no window and a set of ‘strikethroughs’ across the full width of the car. It will turn heads like few other cars on the road.
Inside, there’s a minimalist vibe with a 610mm/24” OLED driver screen, a 178mm/7” mobile phone type screen for key functions and the rear-view camera sits atop the dash within the sound bar for the car’s audio. Taller occupants may find headroom an issue with that swooping roofline, the car stands just 1.4-metres high. There’s a large ‘spine’ through the longitudinal centre of the interior, four individual seats and a large panoramic glass roof.
From an engineering point of view this is an impressive car. From a rear quarter panel that requires a press standing four storeys high – apparently modelling said it was impossible – to battery packaging, a 0.23 cd drag factor, a rigidity that betters a McLaren’s W1 hyper car and over 360 new patents.
Developing over 1,000 PS, with the benchmark 100kph/62mph passed in just 3.2 seconds, there’s a claimed range of over 645km/400 miles. There are two electric motors at the rear and one up front, all-wheel-drive and four-wheel steering. The air suspension set-up, say Jaguar, provides a ride quality for which Jaguars have always been famed.
Jaguar is aiming high in terms of target customers, those who would be considering cars from the likes of Bentley and Porsche. Priced from around €153,451/£130,000 traditional Jaguar buyers from the past are no longer the target customer.
Type 01 (Zero one to be correct) is bold, striking and very marmite, which is what Jaguar wanted in order to attract wealthy customers for a true statement car. Other models are apparently in the pipeline from this unique platform, one has to expect some kind of SUV given current trends and possibly a coupe.
It’s striking enough to be a success but sales and ultimate reliability will be the final arbiter. I hope it does succeed because the Jaguar brand deserves to survive.