I really didn’t want to write this story.
I’ve spent the last couple of years watching Jaguar apparently set fire to everything I thought Jaguar stood for, while replacing it with a marketing department’s idea of “modern luxury”. The old Jaguars were different things entirely: beautiful, slightly dangerous and occasionally powered by engines that sounded like they were planning a bank robbery. (Automology)
Give me an E-Type, an XJ, an XK or one of those glorious fire-spitting V8 demons of old and I’m happy.
So imagine my surprise when I saw the new Jaguar Type 01 unveiled today in New York and thought: actually, that’s rather good.
The Type 01 is enormous, dramatic and gloriously impractical-looking. That impossibly long bonnet, low roofline, huge wheels and almost cartoonishly wide stance give it a presence that most modern cars seem to have lost. Jaguar calls it a four-door GT, and unlike the rather bonkers Type 00 concept, the production car actually looks like something you might conceivably see on a road. (Media Landing)
It is certainly bold. Different, even. And I rather like that. Underneath, however, is where my enthusiasm hits the brakes.
Three electric motors produce around 1,030PS, giving the Type 01 0–62mph in just 3.2 seconds, while Jaguar claims up to 450 miles of range. Technically, it is an astonishing piece of engineering. (Jaguar)
But here’s my problem. Jaguar has finally built a car that looks like it deserves a proper Jaguar engine, and then put batteries in it.
Imagine this shape with a snarling supercharged V8 beneath that enormous bonnet. Imagine the noise. The drama. The smell. The mechanical violence.
Now that would be a Jaguar. So, grudgingly, I’ll say it: Jaguar, you may have won me over on the styling.
Now put an engine into one damn it!.
