2027 Jaguar Type 01 review: prototype drive of the brand's new luxury model

On sale Spring 2027 Price from £120,000 (est)

When someone takes a gap year after a long stint of studying or working on their career, it’s tempting to joke about the questionable life decisions they might make while they spend their time ‘finding themselves’. True, the camouflaged car in these pictures may look like it’s come back from their time away with a questionable all-body tattoo, but in Jaguar’s case, the brand has been working hard to refocus their core values and tracing back their roots with its new GT — which will be called Jaguar Type 01.

The name is significant: the '0' references zero tailpipe emissions, and the '1' that it is the first model of the car maker's renaissance. 'Type' is a naming convention that harks back to the C-, D- and E-Type of the 1950s and 1960s, and more recently the F-Type sports car. 

There's no work on the naming of future models, but it could follow Polestar's approach: the higher the number, the newer it is.

This new flagship model may be armed with modern all-electric underpinnings, but its long bonnet and low roof has been inspired by 1930s styling, while the way it drives promises to hark back to its predecessors (in particular, the Jaguar XJC) with ample performance, composed handling and long-distance comfort. 

Drawing heavily from the Type 00 concept car, we’ll have to wait until September for the GT to be fully unveiled, although a camouflaged version will be shown at the Formula E range in Monaco this weekend. Orders will also be available later in the year, and the Type 01 is expected to arrive in the UK (and US) markets first in the first half of 2027.

The Type 01 will be built in JLR’s Solihull factory – where the Jaguar F-Pace was built before it was retired in December 2025. The battery will be assembled in the Wolverhampton engine plant, with components coming from various suppliers around the world, including China.

What’s the Jaguar Type 01 like to drive?

Our first drive in the Jaguar Type 01 happened at Jaguar Land Rover’s own test track and while we could only experience the car in its default drive mode, initial impressions are strong. The brand can certainly tick off the ‘ample power’ box from their list of objectives.

With a power output of around 1000bhp and 959lb ft of torque, a small flex of your right ankle on the accelerator pedal is all that’s required for the Type 01 to leap up to (and beyond) motorway speeds with no signs of acceleration tailing off. And yet, the Type 01 is just as happy to be driven gently around the test facility’s access roads at speeds as low as 20mph. 

Permanent four-wheel drive is standard, but with two motors powering the rear wheels and one for the fronts, you can sense the Jaguar Type 01's 70% rear-biased power delivery as it pushes you forward towards the horizon. 

Considering this car is more than five meters long, the Type 01 doesn’t feel daunting to drive. The steering has a strong sense of connection to the front wheels, with a very direct and consistently weighted response that helps it feel precise. Meanwhile, the four-wheel steering system that turns the rear wheels in the opposite direction to the front ones at low speeds (by up to six degrees) reduces the turning circle and makes the GT feel much smaller than it looks.

When it comes to cornering, the Type 01 isn't trying to be as agile as the Porsche Taycan, but there’s still plenty of grip and only a small degree of body lean, feeling more composed than the softer BMW i7.

Performance Jaguars have been known for having an exotic soundtrack and while our prototype provided a serene experience, an augmented sound piped into the Type 01 while you accelerate is being worked on for the production model. When it comes to filtering out any unwanted sounds, an active noise-cancelling system will be added. Even without it, there’s barely any wind noise at motorway speeds and a muted level of road noise, despite the standard-fit 23in tyres.

The Type 01’s air suspension provides a calm and settled ride at most speeds as it glides over potholes without them being heard or felt. It’s only when you start driving the Type 01 more spiritedly over the proving ground’s choppier, uneven cambered roads that you can sense a mild amount of fidget from those huge 23in wheels. Here, the Type 01 doesn’t feel as tied down over undulations, but it’s by no means disconcerting.

The brake pedal is responsive and has enough weighting at low speeds to help you achieve a smooth stop. It’s not quite as positive as the Porsche Taycan’s at high speeds, but we’d be nitpicking. The regenerative braking also feels very natural, slowing the car down gradually with a good amount of force. It has been confirmed there will be the ability to adjust the strength and a strong one-pedal mode that can bring the car to a halt.

What’s the Jaguar Type 01 like inside?

When it comes to the interior, Jaguar is keen to point out that occupants get to sit closer to the floor than in many EVs. The top section of the battery (mounted underneath the floor) has been scooped out to lower the seat’s mounting points and the rear footwells, with the latter promising to reduce the feeling of sitting with your knees raised. 

From the driver’s seat, it’s not as low as most sports cars, but similar to the Porsche Taycan and lower than luxury saloons, such as the Mercedes EQS. While there’s plenty of head, leg and elbow room for someone near six-feet tall, a relatively low ceiling, smaller side windows and a raised centre console means it feels cosier than more conventional executive cars. 

Finding a comfortable position is easy enough, with electric adjustment for the seats and steering wheel (with the latter done using the steering wheel controls). Meanwhile, it’s easy to see over the low dashboard and through the wide-but-slim front windscreen, and you can easily judge the front corners of the long bonnet.

Apart from the wide, sharp-looking display behind the steering wheel and the gear selector mounted on the right hand side of the steering column, we’ll have to wait until September before we get to see the full design.

2027 Jaguar Type 01 verdict

What Car? Says

So, how close is the Type 01 to production? Well, we now know the name — it was previously and informally referred to as the Jaguar GT — and how the car drives is pretty much set in stone. What’s left mainly entails the car’s driver assistance systems, the interior tech and having the Type 01 homologated to find its official range and charging speed. With a 120kWh battery, the Jaguar Type 01 is expected to travel more than 400 miles on a full charge.

By doing things a bit differently, Jaguar isn’t expecting the Type 01 to attract a huge crowd of buyers, but the early signs are encouraging for those who are interested.

Jaguar Type 01 prototype

Price £120,000 (est) Engine Three electric motors Power 1000bhp (est) Torque tbc Gearbox 1-spd automatic, AWD

Battery size 120kWh (total) 0-62mph 3.0sec (est) Top speed tbc Official range 400+ miles (est)

Read more: Best luxury cars 2026

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