- Jaguar's upcoming electric GT isn't just surviving the catastrophic "copy nothing" rebrand — early journalist drives suggest it might actually be the most compelling car the brand has built in decades.
- The numbers alone are staggering, but it's the firsthand reactions from seasoned UK automotive journalists that tell the real story: after driving legendary Jaguars like the E-Type back to back with the new EV, they essentially forgot about the classics.
- Jaguar's new strategy of placing this prototype alongside its heritage fleet instead of running from it signals a complete reversal from the cringe-inducing Sephora-style campaign — and if the driving impressions hold up, this could be the rarest thing in the auto industry: a comeback that actually works.
Jaguar wants you to forget its disastrous bubblegum-pink “copy nothing” rebranding, and it’s actually doing an okay job considering how traumatizing that was.
Jaguar is a brand that people often associate with legacy. Well, before the Type 00’s reveal, that is. The stunning and capable E-Type cemented its status as one of Europe’s most classy carmakers at the time. After a time where it seemed Jaguar could be dying, it pounced back into the spotlight with a horrific fridge of a vehicle in its attempt to become all-electric, all-cringe. The Sephora-like campaign seemed to completely kill off any remaining swagger from Jaguar’s glory days. And it seemed to be on purpose.
The backlash was real. People were (allegedly) fired as the car community continued to shudder at the thought of Jaguar’s electric future. Now, the upcoming Jaguar EV is back, but this time it’s camouflaged and being test-driven alongside some of Jaguar’s most recognizable classics. Instead of erasing the past, it seems that Jaguar is hoping to associate the new (unnamed) electric EV with the brand’s original fleet.
The Jaguar EV is actually a good drive, not just a desperate pivot
I’ve seen many car journalist reviews that include the brand’s legacy models alongside them over in the U.K., where Jaguar’s headquarters are located. The goal? Jaguar clearly wants to prove that a switch to electric is exactly what the brand needs. Even if some of its previous models are iconic, the performance is unmatched. Instead of erasing its past, Jaguar wants to show that this new EV is just a logical next step, with this controversial prototype acting as an evolution of its former models.
“At its best, Jaguar has always delivered two characters — performance and comfort — in perfect harmony, and our new luxury GT is no different,” Matt Becker, Jaguar Land Rover’s Vehicle Engineering Director, stated. “It embodies everything the brand stands for. Jaguar’s founder, Sir William Lyons, used to say that ‘driving should be a joy, not a chore.’”
This isn’t supposed to be a rewrite after all. However, the journalists who had the opportunity to drive Jaguar’s iconic cars did seem to forget about them once they sat in the new electric GT.
Wrote Robb Report: “Indeed, the continuities were startling, with this all-electric four-door GT offering ride comfort that exceeded the best of Jaguar’s revered cruisers, and driving dynamics that, when compared with those of the E-Type, show just how much several decades of technological advances make a difference.”
Added Autocar: “And then, out on Gaydon’s multi-lane test track — lordy, it feels fast. That’s what a morning of driving 1970s cars will do for your perceptions, I suppose. But it’s actually the way in which the [new Jaguar] transitions from a totally serene cruise to pick up speed with titanic urgency that really lives with you. Even above 70mph, it still accelerates like a 1000-horsepower car.”
Road & Track concluded: “For better or for worse, there’s plenty of time for everyone to debate that between now and when the car goes on sale, along with ample opportunity to weigh in on the styling. But if the GT rides and drives as well as this preview suggests, there’s reason for optimism.”
So what do we know about this thing?
The full visual reveal will be this summer, but we know it will look sorta similar to the Type 00 concept. The long bonnet remains, a Jaguar signature, but it will have four doors. It’s noticeably low to the ground, with the battery pack designed not to create any added height. It’s heavy. It’s still sorta fridge-like. The details are still a mystery, if there are any details. The original Type 00 concept looked like a low-resolution car that was struggling to load into a PlayStation 2 racing game.
The EV will have 120 kWh of usable energy for a range of more than 400 miles, pretty good for its fridge-like dimensions. With over 1,000 horsepower, it will reach 60 miles per hour in about 3 seconds. Its Intelligent Torque Vectoring system uses the motor position sensor instead of the wheel-based ABS sensors to keep the vehicle stabilized. The Dynamic driving setting lets it get to a pretty crazy sideways angle. The steering is more dynamic than your typical luxury coupe. The interior feels quite small considering the vehicle’s size, with a slim dashboard.
It’s a bunch of bits and pieces, isn’t it? We don’t even know the price, although it will likely be well into the six figures. $120,000? If we’re lucky. $150,000? Possibly. But it’s shaping up to be a bit more of a performance-focused vehicle than a chunky, lifeless publicity stunt in baby blue. It’s not just about style after all. Worth killing four other models? Still too early to say. But it’s probably not the disaster we originally thought it was.
Autocar concluded: “Is this a Jaguar? To its bones, I would say. From sitting in it, to drinking in its tactility, comfort, and isolation, to then fully uncorking it and beginning to experience the remarkable breadth of dynamic character that it has. You’d say it was a Jaguar like absolutely no other. But a Jaguar, all right.”
