Luxury car maker Jaguar has unveiled its new electric concept car and, like a recent controversial teaser video, it has divided opinion.
Some on social media said the new Type 00 car was “exciting” and “absolutely stunning”, while others called it “rubbish” and told Jaguar’s designers to “go back to the drawing board”.
However, the carmaker has suggested the reaction is exactly what it wanted, as it tries to reset its brand to revive sluggish sales.
“Jaguar needs to be bold and disruptive in order to cut through and get our message across,” boss Rawdon Glover told the BBC.
He said his goal was to restore Jaguar’s image as a luxury brand, while no longer trying to compete by pumping out large numbers of cars.
Jaguar has long been the weakest link within the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) group, which also makes Range Rovers and Land Rover Defenders.
Since 2018, sales have plunged from 180,000 to just 67,000 last year.
Last month, JLR stopped selling new Jaguars in the UK altogether, ahead of its relaunch as an electric-only brand in 2026
The firm also announced a new logo, alongside a so-called “social media tease”, which featured models dressed in bright colours but no actual vehicles.
Many criticised the advert as “woke”, with Elon Musk – boss of Jaguar competitor Tesla – asking “Do you sell cars?”
Others criticised the change to Jaguar’s iconic growling cat badge, which has been altered and no longer appears on the front of the car.
Mr Glover has defended the effort, saying the debate helped to draw “more eyeballs” to the firm for this week’s unveiling of the new concept car.
“In that context… the strategy was successful,” he said.
“We absolutely don’t want to ostracize any of our customer base … But, as I say, [the] most important thing for us is we need to attract a new audience to Jaguar’s brand to make sure that we are safeguarding the next 90 years of Jaguar’s future.”
JLR announced the transition to electric vehicles in 2021, keeping all of its three British plants open as part of the strategy.
It said the decision to stop selling new Jaguar cars in the UK last month was a deliberate move to “create some breathing space” before unveiling its new look.
The Type 00 model unveiled at a Miami art fair is a concept car and so will not go into production for sale to the public.
Instead, the vehicle, which features an ultra-long bonnet and big wheels, gives a pointer to the direction of the brand’s new models.
Mr Glover said Jaguar had “ripped up the rulebook” with the new design, which is also intended to evoke Jaguars past when the brand was in its heyday.
The rebrand comes with a higher price point, with Jaguar aiming for the luxury market.
“Nobody needs a vehicle at £120,000. You have to want one,” he said.
“Overall, this has got that sense of real occasion. And that’s that’s what we think is perhaps missing in that luxury EV space,” he added.
But many on social media were nonplussed by the preview.
James May, broadcaster and former presenter of Top Gear, said he was “slightly disappointed” by the design and its price.
“I wanted something more futuristic,” he told the BBC. “I mean, Jaguar have been saying they will copy nothing, but there’s quite a bit of other concept cars in that new Jag.”
May said Jaguar cars had traditionally been “very reasonably priced compared with, for example, Aston Martin”.
“So I’d like to see something more like half the price that they’re toting at the moment.”
‘Too big’
Beatrix Keim, director at the Center of Automotive Research, said that Jaguar’s concept car was “too big, too unreal”.
“This is not the way to go,” she said, given that there are already big cars in the market and “electric cars cannot only be for the rich”.
“Of course, Jaguar is a luxury brand,” she added. “But I don’t think that this is the direction which Jaguar at current point of time needs, because it’s losing out on volume as well. And this is not a volume car.”
Amanda Stretton, a racing driver and motoring journalist, also said she thought Jaguar was going in the “wrong direction” on price.
“The market for cars in excess of £100,000 is not enormous. So Jaguar’s trying to break into a market that’s already tightly fought,” she said, adding that the size of the new car appeared to be “absolute nonsense”.
“It needs to be shrunk by about 50% to be practical.”
