Jaguar has officially presented the new 2028 Jaguar Type 01 in New York, and the sky hasn’t fallen after all. Two years ago, when the British brand dropped its pastel concepts, the internet unleashed an absolute storm of ridicule and brand obituaries. Even Elon Musk, a guy whose cars’ designs are the equivalent of porridge, moaned. Today, faced with the actual machine, some of that rabid criticism has flipped. Some.
If cars were buildings, the new Jaguar would definitely be an impenetrable brutalist volume. The automotive equivalent of John Carl Warnecke’s AT&T Long Lines Building. Heck, brutalism may fall short. This thing is so brutal and huge one may mistake it with the entire Soviet Union on four wheels. It’s the car that would make Darth Vader smile.
In the metal, the Type 01 is imposing. Unlike the smooth curves of the Porsche Taycan or an Audi e-tron GT, the Jaguar is a monolith with tiny windows. A massive, four-door (it’s a sedan, not a coupe like originally presented), 17.3-foot-long slab of smoothed aluminum sitting impossibly low to the ground on 23-inch wheels, with a hood so long it looks like it can fit the Titanic. There isn’t even a rear window, with its roof tapering on a smooth curve until it reaches the vertical grid on its butt. Inside, there are four sets with a spine that physically separates the passengers.
And, well, um, I kind of like it. Ish. At least it’s bold and original, which is what most people are saying online. And that’s good in an industry that is mostly selling atrocious SUVs and bland, cookie cutter cars.
In the comments on car blog The Autopian, the most popular entry says “I actually love the production version. Why do cars have to be boring? Go wild I say. And also, whatever else anyone thinks about this, we can all agree: at least it’s not another f****ing SUV. Kudos to ANY auto manufacturer these days who dares to put money into their sedans.” I 100% agree with this guy.
On PistonHeads, someone warned about its ridiculous size for a sedan: “It’s only a couple of centimeters narrower than a transit van. I’ve been driving leviathan sized cars for decades, but that actually gives me pause.”
Meanwhile, on Reddit r/cars, the 2024 tsunami of hatred has turned into some surprising positive sentiment. Some people were won over by the photos: “I like how ridiculous it looks. If I was in the market for a full sized sedan, I might consider it.” In another post with a hands-on video, other people absolutely love it: “If you’re going to make a boring powertrain (EV), why not go absolutely crazy on the design? Sure I wish they still made an F-Type, but if you’re comparing like-to-like I’d take this over a [Ferrari’s Jony Ive–designed] Luce all day long.”
Even people who hate it seem to think that this redesign was needed in any case: “This is dumb, but for Jaguar to remain on their previous path was dumber.”
The positive critical consensus
In the press, Jalopnik’s Daniel Golson argues that “there’s a lot of straight, hard lines, but the Type 01 is plenty curvy, too, and has plenty of details and elements that remind me of past Jaguars. As my colleague Brad pointed out, all the best Jaguars have looked like spaceships.” Back in 2024, Golson was nearly alone when he defended the original renders.
At The Drive, Nico DeMattia notes that “the proportions are intense: low roofline, short front overhang, XXL hood, extended rear overhang, shutters/louvers for days, and at each corner, massive 23-inch wheels.”
MotorTrend’s Angus MacKenzie says that “visually, it’s a very different sort of Jaguar, but it very much hews to traditional Jaguar values.” Before, he openly questioned whether the initial show car was refreshing or revolting.
Alistair Weaver—at automotive research company and publication Edmunds—celebrates that “the simplicity of the design is a welcome antidote to the complexity of many modern cars, and the proportions are terrific.” He was not so enthusiastic in 2024, when he wondered whether the brand was alienating true car lovers for high-fashion gimmickry—while at the same time acknowledging that Jaguar was always the least conventional of the British sports car brands.
Road & Track’s Mike Austin believes that “the kind way to explain the way the Type 01 looks in person is that it has presence.” Like many others, originally his publication cried that Jaguar had thrown away its timeless heritage of flowing curves.
The skeptics and purists
Others are not so convinced. Detractors argue that the car’s design sacrifices passenger ergonomics, heritage, and cabin utility on the altar of radical redesign. Top Gear’s Ollie Kew says that “the Type 01 is a space inefficient, selfish car.” Previously, Kew had treated the original show car as an eccentric art-gallery joke.
At The Autopian, Thomas Hundal slammed the architectural design: “To put it bluntly, the Type 01 is a monolith—a brutalist monument, and it turns its cheeks to the voluptuous forms of Jaguar’s past.”
Car and Driver’s Andrew Krok writes that “the Type 01 is not only Jaguar’s first EV, but it’s a design-first affair that puts a new spin on electric luxury vehicles.” His outlet originally praised the design in the abstract as necessary shock therapy, but Krok is not convinced by the final design. He believes the roofline and massive rear pillar creates bad blind spots and cramped rear-seat quarters.
It seems to me like Jaguar may actually have something going on. At least the change of going big rather than the previous certainty of going bust. Maybe Jaguar can get enough people to burn $131,000 (a price that is competitive with its peers). If the universally hated Ferrari Luce sold out (allegedly thanks to Ferrari’s policy of forcing top-tier clients to buy every car they make if they want a chance to buy the next model), I don’t see why the Type 01 has to be a future market failure. And, at the very least, it will be a good try at regaining Jaguar’s former glory for a new generation of unfathomably rich people.
