Welcome to Jaguar’s future: this is the electric Type 00 design concept

Published: 03 Dec 2024

And so to the car. You knew there’d be an actual car, right?

Having inadvertently manoeuvred itself onto the frontline of the culture wars with its internet-enflaming media campaign, the fact that Jaguar is a company that sells cars and has a Really Important One coming down the pipe has been sidelined. But here it is, the Type 00. A monolithic pink super coupe that stakes out the territory somewhere between the Rolls-Royce Spectre and the Tesla Cybertruck and previews the company’s new direction. Yep, they’ve doubled down. Although there is also one painted ‘London blue’.

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Over to JLR’s chief creative officer, Gerry McGovern. “Type 00 is a pure expression of Jaguar’s new creative philosophy. This is the result of brave, unconstrained creative thinking, and unwavering determination. It is our first physical manifestation and the foundation stone for a new family of Jaguars that will look unlike anything you’ve ever seen.”

No kidding. Type 00 is, first and foremost, a massive statement. In every sense. It debuts a new design policy that boils down to two words, as these things invariably must: exuberant modernism. The use of colour is also key. Type 00 is more than five metres long, and although there are still curves to be found, its surfaces are sheer, bluff and unapologetically brutal.

The front end, in particular, takes some getting used to, that bothersome new logo sitting amidst a series of raised bars in a nose that makes the average cliff-face look weedy. Elsewhere Type 00 uses a ‘strike-through’ graphic – a series of horizontal lines – that’s repeated on the real estate ahead of the windscreen, on the roof, and on the rear. There are full-width tail-lights hidden in there.

It’s strikingly cab rearward, and wilfully pushes the sacred strictures of stance and proportion to the limit, even on 23in wheels. Check out the so-called ‘prestige mass’, the area between the front axle and the dashboard. It’s immense. Then there’s the DLO (daylight opening), which is minimal. Indeed, the side profile is redolent of Twenties and Thirties coachbuilt ultra-luxury cars like the Bugatti Royale Kellner coupe or Saoutchik-bodied Bucciali TAV8-32, the long nose signifying the presence of a humungous combustion engine. Not here, though. Cadillac’s 2003 Sixteen concept comes to mind, too. Those of a certain age might also find memories of Lady Penelope’s Thunderbirds Rolls-Royce resurfacing.

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Anyway. The Type 00 somehow manages to bundle up this disparate bunch of influences to create something with undeniable impact. And that’s exactly what its creators intended. Note also the absence of a rear window, a bold trick that’s already in production on the Polestar 4. Rear-view cameras are hidden in the brass ‘ingots’ in those panels on the body sides, embellished with the leaper ‘maker’s mark’. This is hi-tech via the artisanal.

The Type 00 name, by the way, suggests that the company isn’t completely jettisoning its past, contrary to some of the bleating on social media. The E-Type is and will forever be one of the all-time greats, and casts such an inescapable shadow that Jaguar would be truly daft to try to do so. But the point is that it came pretty much out of nowhere back in 1961 and blew everyone’s minds. Jaguar is hoping for a similar shock and awe here, and we’re on-board with that. And the zeroes? Well, this is car zero in the new design timeline. And it’s fully electric, so it’s zero emissions at the (non-existent) tailpipe.

If you think the exterior is punchy, get a load of what lies behind those concept car-only butterfly doors. Brass, travertine stone and textiles provide the main touchpoints in here. The stone element acts as a plinth that supports the seats and a central spine. There’s a wool blend on the seats and across the sound bar. The instrument and infotainment screens slide seamlessly in and out of view. The Type 00 has all the connectivity you’d expect from a car this far into the 21st century, but also leans into the modish idea of the digital detox.

This is an idea that’s explored in more depth by the Prism case, and the point where the Type 00 goes properly sci-fi. This is a mysterious tray that sits in a special section on the body side and contains three ‘totems’ of natural materials: brass, travertine and alabaster. Place one of those inside the dedicated space in the centre console and the occupant can tailor the mood of the interior along different lines – ambient lighting, sound, the aroma, and screen graphics. It’s a new concept in personalisation, says Jaguar, and a significant step up from having gloss black rather than walnut veneer in your XJ. Hidden storage areas open to reveal splashes of colour. Given the absence of a rear window, a Clearsight display replaces the rear-view mirror. There’s no ashtray.

Interior and flamboyant doors aside, Jaguar insists that the Type 00 is close to the real car that’s due to appear in a year or so. The same design team have done both. Images of a camou’d test car have been doing the rounds and confirm that those eye-popping proportions remain intact. The production car will be a £120,000-plus four-seat GT, most likely with rear-hinged doors à la Rolls-Royce or Ferrari Purosangue (and indeed 2003’s long lost but rather lovely Jaguar R-D6 concept). A new platform, JEA, underpins the all-electric Jaguar family, majoring on the trad ride, handling and comfort virtues. We’re promised a range of up to 478 miles WLTP and just as importantly 200 miles in a 15-minute rapid charge. Lord knows how big or heavy the battery pack will be, but the technical stuff is for another day.

Here and now, Jaguar’s 800-strong team has spent the past four years working on an over-arching, clean sheet of paper re-set. “We want to balance pure emotion with rational thought,” brand design director Richard Stevens tells us. “We want people to feel more than they think. ‘Copy nothing’ is an idea Sir William Lyons laid down. Imagine coming to work every day with that in your head.”

As well as completely rethinking the design and brand image, Jaguar is ‘re-framing the customer relationship’. There will be a new digital eco-system. Forget the traditional car showroom and dealer, think Hermes, Dior or Louis Vuitton. The first curated brand store is due to open in Paris, in the heart of the 8th arrondissement’s fashion district. No doubt minuscule canapés will be available, wafted aloft by willowy androgynous supermodels. Lukewarm coffee in plastic cups begone.

Similarly, Jaguar revealed the car in Miami, at the start of the city’s high profile art week, because it wants to connect with the diverse, younger and more creative audience that gathers there. Never mind that the free-thinkers who move in those sorts of circles don’t generally appreciate being so vigorously marketed to. Nonetheless, if you’ve ever uttered the phrase ‘go woke, go broke’, then this Jaguar is not for you. (A reminder: David Bowie wore a dress on an album cover in 1971.) The company insists that it’s not abandoning its current customers or dealers, but clearly a fundamental realignment is afoot.

Says Gerry McGovern of the car and the whole concept: “It will make you feel uncomfortable. That’s fine. We have to continue to evolve it, and there will be continuous curation. Because the world is not standing still.”

6 minutes 35 seconds