Jaguar has finally shown the car that must turn a controversial reinvention into a business.
The Type 01 is a four-door electric grand tourer with a long bonnet, no rear window and proportions that seem designed to make every nearby car look underdressed. Credit where it is due: Jaguar has resisted the safest possible answer.
The engineering is not shy either. Road & Track reports three motors producing 1,015hp, about 757kW, with 1,007lb ft of torque. Jaguar claims more than 400 miles, or 644km, on the pending US EPA test from a 120kWh usable battery. It also claims that 200 miles, or 322km, can be added in 13 minutes under suitable conditions.
Those are manufacturer figures, not WattCar test results. The certified range, charging curve and repeat performance still matter.
So does mass. Road & Track lists a kerb weight of 5,950lb, roughly 2.7 tonnes. This is a lot of car to move, stop and place on a road, even with rear-wheel steering and active torque vectoring.
The exterior size does not automatically buy limousine space. At Road & Track’s static preview, a 1.75m writer found adequate room, while a 1.91m attendee reportedly found both rows tight. Top Gear reached a similar conclusion, describing the Type 01 as a four-door 2+2 whose dramatic roofline and enormous bonnet trade space for theatre. Those are attributed preview observations, not our own.
US pricing starts around US$130,500. Jaguar’s Australian site now features the Type 01 and invites people to register for updates, but it does not publish an Australian price, order date or local specification. Currency conversion would create a number, not a local price.
The useful question is not whether everyone likes it. Jaguar plainly does not expect that. The question is whether enough buyers will accept the weight, packaging and price because the design makes them feel something.
That is a difficult trick for any luxury car. For a reborn, all-electric Jaguar, it may be the whole job.