Sunday, December 22, 2024

First look: The new Jaguar Type 00 concept – and it could be in Ireland by 2026

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These are the first extraordinary-looking concept electric cars the famous luxury marque has just revealed and hopes they will kick-start an unprecedented transformation of the brand.

And you could be driving one here in Ireland by 2026.

The design is the benchmark for a whole new family of Jaguars that will look unlike anything we’ve ever seen from the company.

Considering that its new visual identity ‘Copy Nothing’ was only revealed last month, it is obvious they have already mapped out a path on just how far they are going with the sensational new looks.

Their aim is revolutionise how we view our cars – and theirs – through size, shape, colour and performance.

There is the long bonnet, sweeping roofline, fastback profile, 23ins alloys, a massively long interior, flush surfaces, glassless rear tailgate and a panoramic roof.

And for now there are two vibrant colours to highlight the departure from the norm: Miami Pink and London Blue.

The first production model will be an electric 4dr GT which will be revealed in late 2025 and built in the UK. So it should make it here by 2026.

At a practical level, the new car is targeting a range of 770kms on one charge. It will be based on dedicated Jaguar Electric Architecture (JEA) and will have the potential to add 321km of range in 15 minutes.

As if it needed to be said: it is a totally new vehicle with Jaguar saying engineering and design all evolved from a blank sheet of paper.

Executives are waxing lyrical about it and have gone as far as to elevate the concept to a form of art/fashion.

It is planned, for instance, that will sit centre stage at a select number of exclusive brand stores for clients around the world. The first new store will be in the heart of the luxury fashion district of Paris, in the 8th Arrondissement.

Form and function are intertwined. The Jaguar ‘leaper’ icon/logo is laser etched into a hand-finished brass ingot on each side of the car. The ingots deploy to reveal rear-facing cameras that remain hidden until needed. As they say: “Jaguar is no place for ordinary.”

The Satin Rhodon Rose coloured car is being dubbed ‘Miami Pink’ due to the pastel colours of the city’s iconic Art Deco architecture where the concepts were launched.

It is joined by the Inception Silver Blue model which has its hues in the Silver Blue of the 1960s and reflect Jaguar’s British heritage.

Beyond the butterfly doors and ‘pantograph’ tailgate lie cabin elements such as three hand-finished brass lines, which dramatically stretches through the interior.

Elsewhere in the cabin, a central 3.2m-long brass spine splits a pair of floating instrument panels.

It is hard to believe that a car based on the concepts in the pictures could be on Irish roads sometime in 2026.

A Jaguar Ireland spokesperson told me: “It’s likely that we will see production and customer cars in Ireland in 2026.”

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