Jaguar might be taking a breather from making any new cars for a while, but it has a plan. What you see here is the lynchpin on which the brand’s future rests. Jaguar hasn’t announced what it’ll be called but it’s a new six-figure electric sedan/grand tourer that’s supposed to mark a new vision for the company.
This photograph comes from the automaker itself. Evidently, this prototype is now beginning global testing and development. Jag says that it’s already logged “tens of thousands” of miles virtually and physically. With this launch, we expect to see it pop up more and more around the world. Until then, it’s time to discuss what we see here, what we know is coming, and when we’ll see this cat without the camo.
First, let’s chat about what we can make from this new prototype. The entire car appears long and low-slung. The hood seems to have a small bulge in the middle and what almost looks like a Chrysler 300 grille sits on the nose. A wide air intake spans from one fender to the other at the bottom of the bumper.
The passenger compartment looks positively huge. No doubt some of that volume is battery in the floor of the car. Nevertheless, the rear seats appear to have quite a lot of headroom, thanks to a slowly sloping roof. It honestly looks like the perfect car for royalty.
Interestingly, we don’t get a single good look at the back end of this kitty. From the side profile, we can tell that it has a simple sharp cutoff at the back bumper. Beyond that, it’s a bit of a mystery and that’s obviously by design. Clearly, Jaguar is using a lot of camo and a lot of body cladding to keep us all guessing.
Jaguar is in the midst of a brand transformation. Few automakers of its size have done what it’s attempting to do. It’s quit selling new cars in some places and only makes the F-Pace right now. The plan is to become an all-electric brand in the not-so-distant future.
This prototype is the start of that new direction. “I think of it as taking us back,” Jaguar managing director Rawdon Glover told MotorTrend in June, “to where Jaguar started.” Instead of trying to sell at volume, the brand wants to revamp its approach and sell to wealthier buyers. To accomplish that, it’s reportedly working to change the selling experience to a more luxurious one.
It’s not just the cars that have to change, either. Glover said every aspect of the “client relationship” had to change, from the retail experience to service appointments. He’s trying to emulate the approach of the luxury goods industry rather than the traditional auto sales experience. We take that to mean a low-pressure, white glove sales experience in lounge-like dealers with lots of personalization and concierge service any time the vehicle needs maintenance.
That is in line with what Gerry McGovern, creative boss at Jag told Top Gear last year too.
“When these new Jaguars appear for the first time, they need to have a jaw-dropping moment. What we’ve decided to do is go back to ‘a copy of nothing’. That’s what this is about: a complete reimagining.”
Speaking of the car itself, we can expect a few things when Jaguar takes the wraps off of it on December 2. The brand is targeting over 400 miles of range, it should look quite aggressive, and it won’t be cheap. Til then, keep an eye out for one of these prototypes buzzing around wherever you might live.
looks like a giant stepped on a rolls. not the worst possibility. as a sub rolls brand it might? work
The grille is half the height. Notice the plastic rivet snaps that hold that section to the front, flanked on either side by strips at uneven height. The sail panel is also held in with plastic rivet snaps, as the curvature of the lip spoiler shows. The lower air dam has two levels of plastic over it, and the headlights are seemingly split, but only have the square section immediately around the beam focus cut out.
My bets are that this thing will be an updated version of the Jaguar B99 concept’s language. All the parts are aligned in the same positions.
Bertone Jaguar B99 was the first thing I thought of, too. It’s impressive how good that concept still looks despite debuting in 2011.
I guarantee you it won’t look like that.
Hopefully that’s all body cladding on the rear because otherwise, the range will be poor from the terrible aero. I think it’s smart that they went went for a (potentially halo-ish?) sedan first, as it has a higher range ceiling (which is what will make or break the car) than the rest of lineup which will be crossovers.
EV’s are car branded appliances. Period. Full stop. Every luxury brand is struggling to sell their premium branded EV’s-losing billions of dollars. Jaguar’s brilliant plan: jump into a money losing segment head first. RIP, Jaguar.
“Well, Gents – It’s time to do a refresh of our esteemed ExJay EeeVee, which we introduced to market back in Twenty Twenty-One.”
“But Lord Dumberly – We never introduced that XJ. We haven’t built an XJ in years!”
“Don’t quibble with me young man – Now get to work!”
There are a ton of comments outlining why this won’t work. For the sake of getting through a slow Friday afternoon, here’s what I think it would need to actually be successful:
-Real, honest to god, sit in the passenger seat, can’t get a DUI, level 5 autonomy in locations rich people like.
-An interior and entertainment system that oozes excellence
-Exterior design that is iconic and head turning
-Meeting the mark with Model S / Lucid / Xiaomi on range and power
The combination of those things would create a competitor. Anything short of this will be a shart in the ocean.
I could see them getting away with less power but they MUST have very competitive range numbers.
On the topic of dev cars, I sat behind and next to a GTD in stick-on camo the other day, and it was absolutely imposing. What a sweet car
This will be a big swing and a miss for Jaguar, yet again. No one is buying large, 4 door EV sedans. They had some momentum when the f-type, f-pace, and xe were new to market, but failed to update each of those product lines to remain competitive. They SHOULD be aiming for mass market appeal to stay afloat.
Could this be for an audience of one? King Chuckie?
Maybe, it’s been over 20 years since the last state limousines were built, even with light use and meticulous maintenance, you’d think there’d need to be a fleet renewal at some point.
Are they going to do the old bespoke sedan-looking body on a medium duty diesel truck chassis thing that we like over here?
They kept the Queen’s Daimler DS420 in service for fifty two years before retiring it when she died. So… I dunno.
As part of the larger fleet, yeah, but not as the primary state car – the main state limousine before the Bentleys were delivered in 2002 had been a 1986 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI. They still have the Queen’s 1950 Phantom in the collection, but it doesn’t get used regularly
It looks a little like a first gen. xj-s under there.
Thought the same thing, if the camo is hiding those classic buttresses at the c-pillar.
Yep, one could argue those are the quick visual cues you are looking at a jag.
When I think of a market segment that’s underpopulated, the first thing that comes to mind is totally six figure luxury products. I’m also totally sure that the sort of vapid lizards that buy Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Maybachs, etc. will totally gravitate towards a brand that has a reputation of making beautiful but horribly unreliable cars that are a favorite of petty thieves and retirement communities. These seems like a totally sound plan that’s not delusional at all.
JLR might have been able to pull this plan off if the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s, 2010’s, and early 2020’s hadn’t happened.
Right? Like, erase their entire history and it might work!
The US and China are massive luxury sedan markets.
People who want to spend 6 figures on a car such as an MB/Audi/BMW/Bently or whatever will just buy one of those and not a one-off jag that is trying to be one of those brands.
It’s actually worse-Jaguar used to be a low end but charming competitor to those brands. They’re now trying to compete at the next level-Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls, Lamborghini (now that their best seller is that crime against humanity known as the Urus), etc.
I think aside from recognizing iconic sheet metal, most current buyers would not be able to place the actual interiors they came with back in those days. Very little wood or opulence at all.
That’s right, Jaguar used to specialize in giving unexpectedly good value (in performance, handling, craftsmanship, and style) for the money, undercutting the other luxury brands by some degree
Of course, it wasn’t always a sound strategy, the company was often barely profitable, at best, and struggled to fund development of new models, but that was also amplified by their perpetual low production volumes
Lanchester and Daimler were acquired specifically to move upmarket into the Bentley/Rolls-Royce market segment, because the Jaguar brand was recognized as not being up to that task, but that all seems to have been forgotten. You could argue Vanden Plas is maybe even better suited to that role
I think they’re cooked, chat.
It’s drip or drown out there and they’re aiming for both
It’s been in the talks several CEOs ago; this sounds woefully low.
Well, it was also broken down for long periods during that time
I really enjoy the idea of this car being delayed for multiple years and only logging 30k miles of testing because the one prototype they could afford to build broke down and they just had it sitting out back under a blue tarp while they waited for parts. British Leyland is so back.
The whole of JLR, too.
I wonder why they decided to make their fancy test car a Chrysler 300.
or a car at all? Seems like a weird flex on Lucid maybe, but I am not really feeling like that is Money making prospect at this point.
Because if Jaguar only builds crossovers and SUVs, then they’re just Land Rover with a different badge