► Released after controversial rebrand
► Production four-door follows in 2026
► Will the Jaguar Type 00 work?
It’s finally here. You’re looking at the Jaguar Type 00, a concept that distils the bold, colourful new world of Jaguar. Unveiled during Miami Art Week, the Design Vision Concept is the first physical expression of Jaguar’s new look, and follows a steady stream of teasers – as well as a seismic and equally divisive rebranding campaign. A four-door electric GT loosely based on the car here will enter production in 2026, with a SUV and coupe to follow.
Is Jaguar’s clean break a much-needed change of tack? Or does it squander the cat’s legacy in an era where history and brand provenance mean more than ever? We did a straw poll around CAR Towers to tap into some of the strong opinion around the new-look Jaguar.
Keep reading to see what we thought – and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments below.
‘Mostly, I’m sold. I like much of the new branding, particularly the leaper against the new horizontal bar graphic, and if you consider Jaguar’s last 20 years an exhaustive research project then clearly being a volume premium player wasn’t working. It needed to do something different. Unequivocally, it has.
‘Type 00 looks better in real life than it appears in Jaguar’s own images, and disruptive creativity in car design is (mostly) to be applauded. My fear is that, just as Jaguar’s recent advert appears to have been overtaken by events, so being exclusively EV is a worry. Look at Lotus, and its recently announced U-turn to hybrid. Several industry CEOs have recently told me another uptick in EV will be along shortly. Perfectly timed with new Jaguar’s first production car, in fact. But will it? And – caveman opinion alert! – I can’t help feeling the new Jaguar cars would, like Alfa’s electric or V6 33 Stradale, hit harder were they launching with the choice of battery-electric or e-boosted V8 power.’
‘When a gentleman hits the age of 50, he’s well advised to ask someone else to cast an eye over what he’s wearing before he goes out in public, for fear that he might embarrass himself and others by sporting something inappropriately garish or revealing.
‘Jaguar, which is considerably older than 50, seems to have done the opposite. It’s like one of those pensioners who decides to burn through the kids’ inheritance by moving to Goa or Ibiza, getting tatooed and wearing a jaunty cap, perpetually off their face and loon-dancing outside the deli. Just stop it.
‘Full disclosure: I’ve never owned a Jaguar, and I suspect I never will, so to a large extent it doesn’t matter what I think.
‘But, that said, I have driven a lot of the current crop of luxury cars, so I think I have a feel for what Jaguar is trying to do. That market is shifting very rapidly: buyers are getting younger, more geographically diverse, and somehow even richer than they once were. Think tech-savvy entrepreneur, rather than Charlie Hungerford or Arthur Daley.
‘To me the concept looks ridiculous – as if they really were trying to build a version of Lady Penelope’s Rolls-Royce from Thunderbirds – but it’s done the job of firing up the conversation much better than something more tasteful and production-plausible could have.
‘It’s so far removed from any previous Jaguar that it just isn’t one. I used to like the XJ and XK a great deal 20 years ago, but there’s no reason to think any trace of that appeal will resurface here. But, as I say, it doesn’t matter what I think. The bigger problem might be that the Jaguar name surely means bugger-all to the people who might like the Martian-quarry vibes of the campaign.
‘I find it very hard to imagine a single person buying the production version of this.’
‘Ignore the frantic opinion pieces and the ravenous tabloid coverage, Jaguar’s recent rebrand is the necessary shock to a marque that’s been flatlining for a while. The electric i-Pace was an innovative flash in the pan, the following four-door EV never materialised, and ever since then the brand has been facelifting the same gorgeous V8-powered cars – but nobody has been buying them. Jaguar is ingrained into the national psyche, but it’s been at the point of extinction for a while.
‘With that in mind, MD Rawdon Glover’s bold new direction must be taken with a dose of reality. Jaguar had to change its image, and it had to introduce an entirely new direction for its EV-only chapter. After all, it can’t just be Land Rover that pays the bills. While not to everyone’s tastes, this new direction had to sit apart from the beloved but failing one of decades past.
‘The Jaguar Type 00 concept itself? Weirdly low-res, like an unfinished lovechild of Musk’s Cybertruck and a pink wafer, it has the bold and brutal feel of a Rolls-Royce with the slinky feel of a Bentley Coupe – and that’s probably exactly where Jaguar needs to be right now. In production form it’ll be more palatable still, probably like a Bentley Continental wearing the skin of a Range Rover – and it’ll probably do well with the existing customers of those cars too.’
‘Given that so few people have been buying Jaguars since the pandemic, and with its market share but a fraction of what it used to be, reimagination is exactly what the iconic marque needs. Since the XJ-E electric flagship, originally due on sale about now, was cancelled in 2021, the range has withered away – to the point that the company has quietly announced it had stopped selling new cars altogether in the UK. But Jaguar isn’t dead – a £100k-plus all-electric luxury GT will take the reins and leap confidently into the future.
‘But no. In the week before a concept designed to preview the new car was due to appear, the video dropped, with Jaguar saying this was a statement of intent for the future. Indeed. But the internet had caught fire, and everyone from Elon Musk (‘Do you sell cars?’ he trolled) to Nigel Farage (‘I predict Jaguar will go bust’) via all manner of commenters with any sort of following waded in to berate Jaguar’s new marketing message. Copy nothing? “Sell nothing,” they bleated.
‘Now we have a clearer idea of what 2026’s new Jaguar will look like, the “copy nothing” mantra doesn’t look so daft.
‘The elephant in the room about Jaguar’s video is the clear LGBT messaging, which is probably what’s upset Musk so much. This is what has been getting much of the commentariat frothing at the mouth, but I for one think it’s a breath of fresh air. I mean Inspector Morse isn’t around anymore, and if Nigel Farage doesn’t like this, then that’s fine with me. Jaguar knows that it needs to find a new tranche of buyers in an ever-changing world, and when you’re trying something new and radical, you follow the money.
‘Hang in there, Jaguar fans, I think it’s going to be okay.’
‘Jaguar’s new rebrand is the talk of the town — and that seems to be exactly the point. Whether you love it or loathe it, everyone’s got an opinion, and the buzz is undeniable. This isn’t just a redesign; it’s a bold move that’s grabbing attention from all corners — not just car enthusiasts, but a whole host of people who might not usually care about what’s happening in the auto world. Good or bad press? Jaguar doesn’t seem to care — as long as the world is paying attention.
‘With their Type 00 concept, they’re stepping confidently into the EV era, leaving their classic image behind. And honestly, that’s the point. The change was overdue; their old identity didn’t align with the electric-only path they’re now committed to. This isn’t about nostalgia — it’s about staying relevant in a rapidly evolving market.
‘The only downside? We’ll have to wait until 2025 to see these production cars in action. But if this new direction is any indicator, the future of Jaguar promises to be anything but boring — and I can’t wait to see what’s next.’
‘As usual, cold hard data speaks volumes about the predicament Jaguar finds itself in. In the last financial year ending in March 2024, Jag sold a paltry 67,000 vehicles worldwide; Skoda’s already flogged that many cars this year in the UK, with two months left to count.
All the volume – and profits – at JLR were served by the 365k Land Rovers sold last year.
‘If we cast sentiment and residual brand fondness to one side, Jaguar has shrivelled to become an insignificant player – and one whose product plan was seemingly several steps behind rivals. It launched old-fashioned saloons as the competition discovered SUVs and was unable to capitalise on its early move with the clever i-Pace. CEOs from premium Germanic giants barely registered what the English patient was up to when asked about Jag in interviews. Something had to change and the noise and buzz around this reinvention is proof that the new leadership in Coventry agrees.
‘We can argue all we like about the rebranding, the positioning, those ads – but it’s job done from an awareness perspective. I’ve rarely seen automotive stories dominate the mainstream media so extensively (and so angrily). I suspect the Type 00 unveiled overnight is only going to add fuel to the fire. It’s just a shame we’re going to have to wait over a year to see the first production cars in action. Jaguar is changing fast, but the automotive industry yet again proves it’s an oil tanker when it changes course.’
‘I’ve been shocked and disappointed by the hubbub surrounding the Type 00 and Jaguar’s promotional campaign.
‘Not by the car itself; the Type 00 is bold, brutalist and grand in a way arguably never seen by Jaguar before. Jaguar needs this reboot – it’s been left to wither and die for years – and the concept car’s vision of the future feels like a really positive one. The fact I’ve seen people compare it to a Rolls-Royce will feel like an enormous win for the brand.
‘My horror hasn’t come from the utterly baffling ‘Copy Nothing’ promotional material, either. It was wacky and weird like a college art show and, I suppose more pertinently, didn’t have any cars in – probably not the best move by a car company, let’s be honest. But it got us all talking, didn’t it? Those marketeers will be cashing in that fat commissioning fee with a smug grin on their faces regardless.
‘No, it’s the discourse that’s surrounded the campaign, and the utterly disgusting homophobia that quickly infiltrated it. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, I was horrified by it. The word ‘F*guar’ was bandied about openly. Attacks and hate-filled headlines targeting Santino Pietrosanti, Jaguar’s UK director, were gleefully published. People saying they were going to ‘sell their Jaguar’ because the brand had gone ‘gay.’ I’d put money on it that these are arguably the same people who wonder why the queer community deserve pride parades and feel the need to celebrate who they are so openly. Intolerant attitudes and hate like this on such public display is exactly why.
‘For those huffing and grunting about this ‘woke’ direction Jaguar is going in: get over yourselves, folks. It’s a car brand trying to sell cars, and doing some brave (and weird) things to give it another try. And, if you don’t like the new direction the brand is going in for such petty reasons, Jaguar likely doesn’t want your miserable, hate-filled views anyway.’
Agree with our pundits? Be sure to sound off in the comments below!