Jaguar has finally unveiled the car at the center of its viral campaign: an electric four-door GT concept car named Type 00 (pronounced “Type Zero-Zero”). But the car—shown in bright pink and sky blue during Miami Design Week—isn’t just a car. It’s the centerpiece of a controversial effort by Jaguar to rebrand the 89-year-old automaker as it enters the EV age.
Two weeks ago, the British automaker rolled out new branding and marketing leading up to the reveal. Jaguar had a new, modern logo, and a colorful, fashion-forward visual language to match. The launch sparked a polarizing reaction across social media. Critics found the ad (which curiously never showed a car) and the company’s new visual identity downright confusing. Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted on X: “Do you sell cars?”
A NEW BLUEPRINT FOR JAGUAR EVS
The brand calls the Jaguar Type 00 the blueprint for its next generation of electric vehicles and, indeed, it looks nothing like Jaguars of the past. In fact, it hardly looks like anything else on the road. The car ditches a rear windshield and has a decidedly un-aerodynamic silhouette with a broad nose and elongated hood. The car shelves the brand’s long-standing “leaper” hood ornament in favor of a circular brass badge with the initials “J” and “R.”
The new look has critics questioning whether the car is taking the modernist concept to a misguided level. “We understand our history clearly,” Richard Stevens, Jaguar’s director of design, said at the debut of the pair of Type 00 prototypes. “There are times in a brand’s life when you have to make a bold step.”
RIPPING UP THE RULE BOOK
Rawdon Glover, Jaguar’s managing director, says the automaker is returning to its original ethos, when it prized “value over volume.” Chasing volume hasn’t gone well for the British heritage brand, which suffers from an aging lineup and a lack of new products. Until the arrival of the Type 00 EV (said to go on sale in 2026), the brand is culling its portfolio to a single model, the F-Pace SUV. Glover says the redesign will help Jaguar stand out in the increasingly crowded EV market, noting, “We will effectively rip up the current rule book of EVs.”
Jaguar plans to phase out its internal combustion engines for battery-electric vehicles by the end of the decade, and it’s setting a high bar for the first model under its retooled identity. The automaker says that the 1,000-horsepower car will be able to travel up to 430 miles on a single charge and add up to 200 miles of range in 15 minutes when plugged into a DC fast charger.
While the colorful cars are concepts, the production model is expected to retain design cues from the prototype, with its long hood, sweeping roofline, fastback profile, and 23-inch alloy wheels. The only trace of the “leaper” icon is etched into a brass ingot on the fender that protects the side camera mirrors embedded behind it.
Inside, the cabin features nontraditional materials including brass and travertine. Three hand-finished brass lines run the length of the interior, with a central, 10.5-foot brass spine that splits a pair of floating instrument panels.
Early data suggests that Jaguar’s controversial campaign has succeeded in enticing car shoppers. Auto Trader reported on Monday that interest in Jaguars has spiked following the hotly debated rebrand.
“Getting attention in today’s world is not always easy,” Gerry McGovern, Jaguar’s chief creative officer, said onstage during the reveal. “When Jaguar was at its best, it created the E-Type and XJS,” he added, citing two of the brand’s most storied 20th-century models. “At our very best, we have never conformed.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jaclyn Trop is a contributor for Fast Company and reports on the Automotive category for the annual list of Most Innovative Companies. You can connect with Jaclyn on LinkedIn or Twitter/X.