Jaguar: EV concept in December, then no new car sales for a year

Jaguar is sticking with its plan to go all-electric from next year despite unsteady EV demand – and it is just months from scrapping its entire existing line-up and revealing a crucial concept car that will set the tone for its new era.

Jaguar’s next-generation models will be unrelated – visually, technically and in their positioning – to the cars that have come before. So far, the brand has described them as only a “copy of nothing” when pressed for clues about how they might look.

But all the questions will be answered in December with the reveal of a radical new concept that closely previews its first new-era EV: a £100k four-door GT with a range in excess of 435 miles, ultra-rapid charging and a dual-motor powertrain with more than 575bhp.

The new concept will set the tone for not just the debut GT but also the new-era design language that will also define the Bentley Bentayga-rivalling SUV and Flying Spur-sized limousine that are due to follow it into dealerships by 2028 – as reported exclusively by Autocar last year.

Jaguar managing director Rawdon Glover told Autocar that a priority when designing these new cars was to rethink the basic principles of EV design, given that today’s electric cars “all look quite similar because they’ve spent too long in a wind tunnel, for range purposes”. He added: “If we look at it, it’s quite a homogenous sector, and I suspect that might be part of the reason why the BEV sector stalled a little bit. Actually, what you want to do is make a car that actually challenges some of those conventions.”

He did not give details, but Autocar has already reported that the three cars will have long, probing bonnets and minimalist, imposing front ends that house a distinctive new grille motif envisioned as the new face of the Jaguar brand. Meanwhile, the LED lights at each end will be so slim as to be almost invisible when off, and it is understood the cars will have no rear windows – like the Polestar 4.

Glover did say that reports of the demise of Jaguar’s leaping cat emblem have been “a bit overexaggerated”, because “for brands that want to operate in the luxury space, their provenance, history and iconography are really important.