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On April 26, 2026, Jaguar finally pulled the wraps off the production-ready Type 01 at its global launch in New York, confirming that first customer deliveries will begin in Q2 2027. With a 1,015bhp tri-motor powertrain, a 120kWh battery and a claimed 320-mile range, the Type 01 is the most radical product in the British marque’s long history. For a brand that has spent years fighting for relevance, this is nothing less than a make-or-break moment.
The road to this point has been anything but smooth. When the Type 00 concept appeared two years ago, it triggered a storm of controversy — and that was before the rebrand swapped the famous leaping cat for a pared-down wordmark. But Jaguar’s leadership insists there was no alternative. Continue down the old path and the brand would have faded into irrelevance.
Jaguar’s struggle was never about engineering quality. The previous-generation XF and XE were often praised by critics as being better than their German rivals, yet they rarely won over enough buyers to sustain the business. The premium-volume sector is a brutal arena, and Jaguar simply didn’t have the brand pull to break through. The numbers told a painful story: years of shrinking sales, an aging lineup, and a customer base that adored the brand but never seemed to buy it.
Managing director Rawdon Glover admitted as much when evo spoke with him around the time of the Type 00 reveal. “We had created some brilliant products, some were best in class, but the competitiveness in that sector was too much for Jaguar to cut through,” he said. The decision to start over came via Project Pantera, a five-year initiative that began with a fundamental question: what kind of Jaguar should exist in the electric age?
To find the answer, JLR split its design department into three teams, each asked to present at least three proposals covering a range of body styles. Out of 18 candidates, the winning design emerged as a low, wide, four-door GT — the silhouette that eventually became Type 00 and now Type 01. “I vividly remember the first time I walked into the design garden,” Glover recalled. “It stops you in your tracks. It does take time to get used to, but that’s the appeal.”
The Type 01 is 5.2 metres long, 1.4 metres tall, and its body is wrapped in a matte silver finish that dates back to the original concept. The headlights are pushed to the very corners, the bonnet line sits high and imposing, and a large, closed-off panel replaces the traditional grille. The roofline narrows the glasshouse dramatically, and there’s no rear window at all — a design choice also seen on the Polestar 4. Cameras provide rear vision instead.
It’s an undeniably bold look, and Jaguar knows it will polarise. But the brand is not chasing the traditional Jaguar buyer. It’s chasing the tens of thousands of people who had never considered a Jaguar before — and early signs show that’s exactly who’s signing up. Of the more than 50,000 people who have registered interest, Jaguar claims nearly 80 per cent are new to the brand.
Some design details follow from engineering needs. The flat battery platform allows for a short front overhang and a cab-forward silhouette. The tall body sides are a consequence of the energy-dense pack beneath, but the team worked hard to make that height look intentional rather than bulky. Whether you find it beautiful or baffling, there’s no mistaking the Type 01 for anything else.
Under the skin is an all-new architecture called JEA — Jaguar Electric Architecture. Jon Darlington, Jaguar’s chief engineer and a 30-year company veteran, said the project gave his team a kind of freedom rare in this industry. “It’s got to look like that, and it’s a Jaguar. Full stop. Everything else is free,” the board told him. He compared it to his days leading the XE project, which came with numerous constraints: it had to compete head-on with the BMW 3 Series, it had to use existing engines, it had to work within a defined cost structure. None of that applied here.
One of the most important breakthroughs is something Jaguar calls the “tri-apex node.” It’s a structural component mounted ahead of the front bulkhead, designed to survive a 26-ton impact. By placing this node where a conventional car would have its engine, the battery pack is able to stretch beyond the bulkhead line, adding as much as 70 miles of claimed range. It also enables near-perfect 50:50 weight distribution and allowed the engineers to lower the body by 100mm.
The battery itself is supplied in five packs, each made up of 200 cells that are just 120mm high. That low-profile design avoids the need for a tall, skateboard-style battery tray that would have raised the roofline by 200mm and compromised the interior. The high-voltage junction box has been repurposed as a structural strut brace, and traditional high-voltage cables were replaced with CAN bus connectors — a move that saves weight, improves packaging, and helps with range. In total, JLR has filed more than 350 patents related to the Type 01, according to Darlington.
Power comes from two electric drive units mounted on the rear axle, delivering 888bhp, and a single motor on the front axle that brings the total to 1,015bhp and 1,007lb ft of torque. The drive system defaults to a 30:70 front-to-rear power split. At steady cruising speeds, the rear motors decouple and the front motor handles progress alone, which Jaguar says adds up to 18 miles of usable range.
Andrew Ellis, Jaguar’s propulsion manager, set out three key targets at the start of the project: 1,000bhp, the ability to go from 100 to 180kph in four seconds, and a 400-mile range on the WLTP cycle. The final car lands at 320 miles, which is still respectable for a 120kWh pack, but the performance target has been met. The Type 01 will weigh around 2.9 tonnes, a reminder that electric grand tourers are still heavy. Yet the engineering team argues that the car’s body control and torque-vectoring setup will make it feel far lighter than the scales suggest.
Official charging figures haven’t been confirmed, but with 120kWh of capacity and advanced cell cooling, the Type 01 is expected to support ultra-fast charging rates well beyond 200kW. Jaguar is keeping the final number for the official order campaign early next year.
The Type 01 is only the first piece of Jaguar’s new lineup. Two more models are planned on the same JEA platform: an SUV and a sporting-brake estate. But the GT must do the heavy lifting of changing public perception. With production deliberately limited to preserve exclusivity, this is not a car engineered for volume. It’s engineered to be a halo, a reason to take the new Jaguar seriously.
Reservations are encouraging, but they’re not orders. Some industry analysts point to luxury EVs that enjoyed huge early buzz yet struggled once real-world reviews and price tags appeared. Jaguar will need the Type 01 to convert interest into sales, beginning in Q2 2027. If it succeeds, the brand may finally have a future. If not, Glover’s gamble will be remembered as one of the boldest — and loneliest — bets in automotive history.
For now, the Type 01 is a statement. Jaguar is not trying to please everyone. It’s trying to matter again. And that alone may be worth the wait.
