The Jaguar Type 01 is finally here to herald the brand’s electric era. Can the cat strike back?

So here it is, the Jaguar Type 01, the car that begins Jaguar's new electric era. Many years in the making - and that's just the PR campaign, the Type 01 needs to take the storied brand into uncharted waters, more upmarket and luxurious than any model that's gone before it, but also defiantly and irreversibly electric.

Through a staggered series of unveils and reveals that found themselves on an unwitting collision course with the wretched culture wars, the Type 01 arrives in a slightly different - and hopefully more mature - than that which greeted the original Concept 00.

Electrification is still an outlier in this sector, but hardly an effected eccentricity. The whingeing contingent that was never going to get with the programme haven't gone away, of course, but they are a little quieter. Even the Ferrari Luce, which stole more than its fair share of negative thunder when revealed back in May, is starting to grow on people, and the addition of the Bentley Torcal to the high-end EV club has helped even more.

Type 01 is a fastback, four-door, four-seat electric saloon. Scale is very much central to its character. At 5,235mm long, Type 01 is knocking on the door of cars like the Bentley Flying Spur, Rolls-Royce Ghost and even the Cadillac Celestiq, but none can match the Type 01’s dramatically low 1,403mm height, something that’s more akin to a sports coupe (the Luce is over 14cm taller).

The underlying electric powertrain and battery (new 850-volt architecture with 118kWh of usable battery) isn’t to put to use to re-shape the interior accommodation (as per Jaguar’s only other dedicated EV, the long discontinued I-Pace) but instead sacrificed on the altar of proportion and drama.

It’s an EV with a very long bonnet and extended rear overhang, forms that help the aero but which also draw a clear line back to the proportions and lines of past Jaguars. Like the Polestars 4 and 5, Type 01 does away with the rear window, replacing it with a camera and screen.

The inclusion of massive 23” wheels as standard (same as the Luce, although it also has truck-like 24” wheels at the rear) helps shrink the Type 01’s silhouette but there’s no escaping the fundamental conclusion; big is better and biggest is best, at least where luxury conveyances are concerned.

Detail design is exquisite, from the new Jaguar monogram to the use of aluminium and brass-effect finishes, Woolblend DuoWeave textiles from Kvadrat, and lightweight NeoGrain material from Ultrafabrics.

From a design point of view there is a lot to admire here, especially the commitment to a minimalist aesthetic that at times tips over into brutalism; the crisp folds of the rear three-quarters as it meets the shoulder line, the near-vertical treatment of the area behind the rear wheel arches and the slatted ‘frames’ that define the front and rear elevations.

Inside it’s a similar approach, with a single 24” OLED instrument panel and a compact 7” touch screen in the centre console. But is it all a step too far in terms of brand image?

Arguably Jaguar’s absence from the fold over the past two years has raised the stakes but also kindled some additional fondness for the brand – everyone wants this car to do well. In pure statistical terms, the Type 01 is competitive, with a projected EPA range of up to 400 miles (450 miles on the WLTP scale), which should translate into 300+ miles at the kind of high-speed cruising it looks suited to.

With up to 1,030PS on tap, the Type 01 should hit 62mph in 3.2 seconds, although a more useful (if illegal) metric is its ability to whisk from 62mph to 112mph in just 4.0 seconds.

There’s obviously lots more to say about the Jaguar Type 01 and when we drive the car we’ll dig down into more detail. However, as a scene-stealing flagship for a company that wanted a full creative re-boot, Type 01 can’t be faulted. Now it just has to deliver the driving experience to match.

Jaguar Type 01, more details at Jaguar.com, @Jaguar