The new all-electric four-door GT will be the first model in Jaguar’s all-electric future.
Jaguar will be led into its all-electric future by a £100,000 (AUD$196,000) four-door GT. The GT is likely to take a purposeful step away from the brand’s current line-up, with a wide stance, some distinct squared-off angles and straight lines, plus a prominent diffuser.
As new JLR boss Adrian Mardell explained in an interview with Auto Express editor-in-chief Steve Fowler, there is a very clear desire to take Jaguar in a new direction with a fresh visual identity that expresses the emotion of the brand.
To that effect, Jaguar’s team of designers produced an array of different options that were considered by a number of key stakeholders, and what we see here is the first interpretation of a new design language that was virtually the unanimous choice of everyone involved and is described by Mardell as “jaw dropping”.
The rapid-fire process was instigated by JLR’s Chief Creative Officer, Gerry McGovern. Called Project Renaissance, it handed three teams within JLR’s design studio in Gaydon a common brief to produce a family of three distinct types of vehicles, resulting in 18 clay-model proposals being made in barely three months.
A number of prototypes of the new GT are expected to be testing on the road by the end of the year, and an official unveiling of the car is being planned for around April or May 2024, with sales scheduled for 2025.
Beyond that, though, it also points to what’s in store for the two new crossovers that will complete the line-up, as Mardell is adamant that “it’s really important that there’s an association – a family look.”
The British brand is being fully rebooted as part of JLR’s Reimagine strategy, with no replacements planned for any of the existing models. Instead, Jaguar is being moved upmarket to stand alongside Range Rover, Defender and Discovery as one of four ‘brand pillars’ of JLR .
The three-car line-up will be made at Solihull – the same plant that will also build the all-electric Range Rover – with the GT set to be the most powerful Jaguar production car ever made, and trumping the brand’s existing EV, the I-Pace, on range and charging capacity.
Jaguar teaser
Jaguar has not released motor outputs or performance figures, but it says the new model will have up to 700km of range, and will be capable of adding around 320km of range in 15 minutes of rapid charging.
McGovern said: “Jaguar’s founder Sir William Lyons said that it would be a copy of nothing, and that’s what we’re working towards. The brand has to inspire like no other – think exuberance, aspirational, fearless. This is absolutely the right way forward for this business, and I’ve more enthusiasm for it now than I’ve ever had. It’s a real opportunity – big stuff.”
All of the new creations will sit on a bespoke-EV platform called Jaguar Electrified Architecture (JEA). Nick Collins, JLR’s Executive Director of Vehicle Programmes, said:, “JEA is being developed specifically for the exuberant Jaguar brand. There’s not a single vehicle architecture anywhere in the world that could create something as exuberant as what Gerry and the team have created.”
As part of JLR’s reorganisation, Jaguars will only be sold alongside Range Rover, Defender and Discovery at selected retailers, although the brand could also be positioned at standalone boutique sales points – a tactic that’s already being employed for the luxury SUV brand.
The first model’s named price point is at almost $200k and JLR’s Chief Commercial Officer Lennard Hoornik confirmed to Auto Express that this will be the entry point for the brand. “It’s definitely a ‘prices from’ situation,” he said. He added that the second and third models in the new range would arrive in reasonably short order after 2025.
JLR’s overall ambition for Jaguar is to move it upmarket, even if it means reducing its sales volumes (an overall figure of 50,000, matching the Range Rover, is said to be at the higher end of the potential numbers). McGovern said: “It’s not that designs were bad over the past 20 years; it’s more than the strategy was about creating more universal appeal, and competing with mainstream premium products. This made Jaguar more normal. We’ve decided we want to go back to the future, to being a copy of nothing – a complete reimagining.”