Jaguar readies for Type 00 EV debut in 2026

Quick look

• As 2025 is about to end, Jaguar is looking forward to a fresh start in 2026 with the Type 00 EV that begins a new era for the 103-year old company.

• The polarizing design of the Type 00 will lose some customers but is also expected to draw new and younger customers to the brand.

Jaguar – one of the old British brands still doing business – has had a rough 2025 with low sales numbers. While the 97.5% drop in European sales in April was shocking, the automaker explained that it was actually the outcome of a strategic move to transition into EVs.

Sales ‘collapse’ and 2025 reset
Production of virtually all models was stopped at the end of 2024, partly also to avoid having increased stocks of aged models that were no longer selling well. Of course, this left dealers with no fresh stocks to put in their showrooms after they sold off whatever they had, hence the amplified perception of a ‘collapse’.

The situation at Jaguar recalled the 1970s and 1980s but the downturn during that earlier period had been due to quality issues and labour problems. This time, the brand seemed to be stuck and the controversial rebranding with the “Copy Nothing” campaign was blamed.

Then there was the removal of design head Gerry McGovern – Guardian of the Land Rover and Jaguar DNA – with suggestions that the design he conceived for the new model was the reason. But then a week later, Jaguar said that he was not removed although nothing has been heard from McGovern up till today.

SS Jaguar and Type 00
Jaguar probably can’t wait to leave behind the dark days of 2025 and start 2026 afresh. Jaguar will be 103 years old, having begun as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922. The company will launch its first new luxury GT, presently referred to as Type 00.

The Type 00 will start a new era for the brand, just as the SS Jaguar did 90 years ago. Although the Jaguar name was formally established in 1945, the SS was already in production in 1935 and became the first model to carry the Jaguar name.

The SS Jaguar exemplifies Sir William Lyons’ original philosophy: Copy Nothing. With its low roofline and elongated bonnet, the SS Jaguar was a bold departure from convention in its time. When most British cars were upright and utilitarian, the SS Jaguar introduced a sleek, low‑slung silhouette with a long bonnet and flowing lines.

The Type 00 will be fully electric and over the past few years, Jaguar has gained a lot of expertise in electric powertrains with its participation in Formula E. No technical details have been revealed and throughout the year, the focus has been on the design to get people ‘comfortable’ and used to it.

With its polarising looks, Jaguar will lose some customers who are traditionalists but the completely new look – ‘unlike anything you’ve ever seen’, as McGovern put it – could also draw a new generation of customers who are also likely to be younger. That’s happened with the Spectre, the first EV for Rolls-Royce.

First driving impressions
Only a few motoring journalists have had the chance to drive prototypes of the Type 00. UK’s CAR magazine declared that ‘the most controversial car of the decade feels like a real Jag’, while Steve Cropley of AUTOCAR has called it ‘the best-riding car ever’. The Brits would, of course, praise a Jaguar although Cropley is actually Australian and one of the early editors of CAR.

Launch date?
Jaguar has not indicated a launch date which could have been in March at the Geneva Motorshow, where it launched the E-Type in 1961. But that once-significant show no longer exists in Geneva, having ‘moved’ to Doha in Qatar. There is also mention of a launch in the middle of the year, which is possible but deliveries may only start in early 2027. That’s how it works with the automakers these days.

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