Two years after the Jaguar rebranding became one of the most controversial changes of identity in carmaking history, the company isn't looking back. We've finally got our first peek inside its Type 01 production electric car, and the images show that Jaguar's doubling down on its big, bold and minimalist approach.
There's light leather upholstery, a wood dashboard, a floating smartphone-shaped tablet, and, perhaps most strikingly of all, a full-length brass spine that Jaguar's calling a "signature art piece". If you didn't like the car's outside, you're not going to like the inside either.
On the outside, the new Jaguar is a beast of a thing that looks like a low-poly video game model (it actually made an appearance in 007 First Light). The inside was guaranteed to spark more debate.
The four-seater takes clear inspiration from the Type 00 concept car. In fact, Jaguar's calling it "a concept car vision brought to production". the company mentions travertine stone and "the rich textures of artisan textiles" as influences for a cabin that blurs the line between car interior and business class air travel.
That prominent "art piece" of a spine means this isn't a car for people who want to cosy up on the back seat. It divides the car into four sections, giving each passenger their own defined space and no risk of rubbing knees. The division continues into the driver and front passenger sections in the dashboard design.
There's a sweeping low ceiling with panoramic glass. Instead of a rear-view mirror (and rear window) a digital rear-view camera can be viewed on a screen at the base of the windscreen at the same height as the wing mirrors.
Jaguar mentions "hidden on-demand technology" integrated directly into the car's architecture, although hopefully, it won't be showing Spider-Man adverts like BMW. A small touchscreen console for heating and infotainment controls rises from the central spine.
Jaguar's leaper logo is embossed on the doors, while the wordmark with its capitalised 'G' appears behind the wheel. An overhead image shows motifs on the dashboard also on the bonnet's top lip, creating a continuation between interior and exterior design.
Jaguar boss Rawdon Glover described the interior as being "like no other", while Chief Interior Designer Thomas Holden says the interiors are intended to emphasise the car's "dramatic longitudinal nature" and "unmistakable drama and theatre".
Some people will never forgive Jaguar for its deliberately provocative rebranding, but they're not the people it wants to appeal to, and they might be helping it. The company decided its brand was dead and needed shock treatment to revive it. Shock it did with its rage-baiting launch campaign. The drip feeding of design details has kept it in the news ever since.
Whether you and I like the design doesn't really matter. The world has noticed and will be paying attention at the Type 01's full unveiling in New York on 6 October. Then we'll see if Jaguar proves the haters wrong.
