Jaguar finally launched its new EV. Here’s what people are saying

FastCompany: 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. [Image: Jaguar] 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. [Image: Jaguar] 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. [Image: Jaguar] 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.

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The launch of Jaguar's new EV is significant for the automotive and design industries, especially given the polarized reception that can inform brand strategy, though the concept of bold design choices is not entirely new.