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You’re allowed to like the 2028 Jaguar Type 01

The relaunched brand’s tri-motor EV keeps its concept-car proportions while losing the runway palette

Published Oct 06, 2026  •  Last updated 1 day ago  •  8 minute read

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2028 Jaguar Type 01 Photo by Jaguar

Jaguar has finally unveiled the 2028 Jaguar Type 01, and it’s okay: you’re allowed to like it now! Jag’s washed the woke from the colour palette, launching the production car with a proper ad to match. Brooding white dude, moody underpasses, etc. Controversy was always part of the plan, the company insists—but light pastels are out for the moment. Lithium is in. 

Expected to be priced around CDN$180,000 (and US$125k to US$130k) when it arrives mid-2027, the new tri-motor Jaguar EV promises 1,015 horsepower and 1,006 pound-feet of torque. Acceleration from zero to 100 km/h in 3.2 seconds, of course; Jag says any quicker is unpleasant. 

More importantly to the everyday, however: Jaguar claims an aircon-on EPA 5 range of 640 kilometres (400 miles) from 120 kilowatt-hours’ gross battery capacity, of which 118 kWh are usable. The car’s new 850-volt ‘Jaguar Electric Architecture’ (JEA) promises optimal 10%-to-80% DC charges in as few as 22 minutes from a 350-kW fast-charging station, with AC plugs on either side of the car to suit slower top-ups in the everyday. So homologated, this will mark a 33-per-cent growth in battery capacity; and a 60-plus-per-cent range increase over theold I-Pace. 

With so much riding on a striking relaunch, Jaguar is emphatic that the design was treated as a fixed point around which all else was to cater. Quantifying the claim, Type 01 Lead Aerodynamicist Chris Kaaria states that nothing about the design was changed more than eight millimetres from the original clay model. Presenting later, Chief Engineer Jon Darlington echoes this with reference to a pair of images on his desk: one of Jaguar’s first car from way back in its history, and another of the original design from which so much was lost en route to production, a cautionary tale between them. 

So directly adapting the concept shown last year, the production car gains two rear doors but maintains exceedingly clean proportions. A tight front overhang is balanced by a lengthy rear; along the way, Jag draws particular attention to the E-Type-matched expanse between front axle and A-pillar, which it calls a “luxury gap.” Stretching aft from the A-pillar above, a complex rear quarter warrants an article all its own, having necessitated more than a thousand hours’ manual tooling to sort for manufacturing. 

This is just the start of where the engineering gets clever: such a low profile is one thing in an ICE car, but a major packaging challenge for a big-batteried electric. The new architecture’s arrangement is thus more creative and considered than a typical ’skateboard’ EV. Battery packs are arranged around passengers and systems, rather than unitarily slabbed as typically forces seats and rooflines up to crossover-SUV altitudes.

Similar to the newAMG GT 4-Door we previewed earlier this year, a row of cell modules is relocated to open rear-passenger legroom and enable lower rear-seat mounting beneath a tapered roofline. Jaguar also packages several cell modules around and ahead of the ‘tri-apex nodes’ triangulating structural and crash support at the base of the car’s A-pillars, and JEA’s high-voltage junction box is centred as a structural brace between suspension struts. 

Jaguar highlights battery thickness as a key performance indicator during development. The company says that cells comprise a full 80 per cent of JEA’s 150-mm battery-pack height, versus an industry ‘cell-to-pack’ volumetric average of 63 per cent. It sounds dull, but each millimetre freed helps sink the seats and roofline for a low, sweeping silhouette. 

More tangible to the consumer is Jag’s means of maximizing the standard 23-inch wheels’ visual impact. Already striking at more than half the car’s overall height, these Escalade-sized rims are focused by minimizing mass above. Jaguar has accomplished a mere 133-mm measure from the top of the front wheel arch to the top of the hood—a full 10 centimetres slimmer than on the F-Type, and a metric mile less than the towering negative space that so shrinks the C8 Corvette’s rear wheels. 

To accommodate comfortable suspension travel within such tight headroom, openings in the top of the car’s strut mounts clear travel through the casting and on toward the bodywork’s outer extremes. For its part, that suspension is a fresh implementation of the impressive twin-valve twin-chamber system that so impressively obviates traditional sway bars beneath theDefender Octa andRange Rover Sport SV.

We’ll have to see how it’s specifically implemented come our proper first drive, but the concept’s management of both compression and rebound through twin high-pressure valves has demonstrated memorably remarkable body control in those taller, trickier applications. 

Packaging aside, Jag’s proprietary powertrain work appears respectably apace its segment peers. Assuming all homologates as previewed to us in Gaydon, Type 01 appropriately promises the obligatory luxe-EV 1,000-plus horsepower at what calculates to an entirely respectable estimate of 18.4 kWh/100 km. Jaguar is keen to emphasize that it sustains this from 100 km/h to 170 km/h to ensure full highway-passing power whenever a driver wishes, rather than just at a short peak. 

It’s plenty of good, established practice to this end: closable front vanes selectively smooth over radiator and brake ducts for aerodynamic efficiency, oil-immersed motor windings, integrated thermal management across electric modules, nickel-manganese-cobalt battery cells, and silicon-carbide inverters for typical switching (the individual pulses that drive the motor) at up to 20 kHz. Permanent-magnet synchronous motors register typical 95-per-cent efficiency ratings and rapid torque-vectoring response mapped according to drive mode. 

Competitive performance and range numbers sorted thusly, JEA isn’t breaking too much ground with motor configuration, cell design, cooling, or otherwise: Lucid’s still got the crown on motor efficiency, YASA on power density, and the new AMG GT four-door’sjacketed oil routing has my attention among powertrain cooling solutions.

This isn’t a criticism, though: Jaguar doesn’t need to blast the industry out of the water here, only to properly deliver on core market expectations. 

Regenerative braking can capture a claimed 628 kilowatts at its most aggressive, functionally eliminating the need for friction brakes in most conditions as in other recent high-powered EVs like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric. Still, large brakes wait behind aerodynamic wheel covers should the occasion present. 

Come such dynamic conditions, Jaguar’s advancement to a tri-motor arrangement promises both longitudinal and lateral torque vectoring. Twin drive units out back account for 70% of the car’s rear-biased torque, the front pulling on track when required and switching off its inverter for efficiency when not. Each motor is independently geared through a short fixed ratio: 7.72:1 for the rears, and an even shorter 8.76 up front. 

Jaguar describes its new direction as “exuberant modernism.” Concepts, positioning, and message warrant a study all their own later, but messaging aside: what of the car itself? 

Sheathed in satin or silver, Type 01 looks concretely architectural. Sharply creased corners carry strong lines about the design, matched with minimally ornamental slatted reliefs detailing nose, tail, and bonnet. Slotting into these rectilinear recesses, headlamps pack some 20,000 LEDs into an envelope just over eight centimetres tall and stretched to the farthest corners. So large and low amid today’s sea of dull crossovers, it all carries a uniquely strong presence. 

Inside, the cabin’s central spine runs a distinctly designer sensibility up the car’s length. A mix of cubbies populate this, warmed by brass-coloured interior accents to match the anodized blade that follows the front wheels. It’s otherwise avowedly minimal, however. Central climate and other controls are consolidated into a refreshingly compact 7.0-inch display. Better still, Jaguar’s updated to OLED screens, meaning black pixels actually switch off to blend and minimize cabin light pollution at night. The same applies to the 24-inch primary display.

Jaguar has deliberately concealed all speakers within a front ‘sound bar’ and around the cabin, eschewing conventional speaker grilles along with much other ornamentation. Attention is thus centred on upholstery, a mix of leather and Danish ‘Kvadrat’ interior upholsteries. This is most prominently displayed across the car’s unusually broad seat faces. These seamless expanses are impressive, relying on new bonding techniques to ensure material stability without the usual support stitching or segmentation along the way. Below, too, carpet extends well up the sides to deepen the cabin’s feeling when closed. 

Barring limited runs of satin red and blue however, the introductory Type 01 palettes are restrained in both hue and variety. The chromatic backtrack is unfortunate if unsurprising given the uproarious response to that one (one!) marketing-agency teaser, whether or not any of the UKIP dads in the comments were ever in the market for a Jaguar anyway. The cold, desaturated silvers and grays work, but future years’ opening to customization and further tones will serve the shape well. 

Still to be sorted as well is some degree of the car’s identity, or at least its presentation. Jaguar’s calling the car a sedan, but also a “2+2″—a two-seater that’ll squeeze two more in a pinch, if historically a term applied to two-door cars like the Porsche 911. We’re left to wonder why not lean on something like ‘four-door coupe,’ a (still absurd) term Mercedes has already spent two decades laundering. 

“Sedan” is a tougher sell, though: such compact rear-door apertures don’t really suit bigger adults, nor would they be friendly to parents leaning in to buckle little ones. Jaguar signals no intention of opening the rear up for a bench either, insisting that those seats really are just ‘+2’-style extras anyway. It’s a good bit tighter than the Taycan or RS e-Tron, but proximal to the new AMG. So it’s a sedan, but not really, but—whatever, young people aren’t having kids anyway. 

Perhaps the largest question from all of this is whether or not shoppers will warm to the cabin’s minimalism, that market now habituated to laser-cut aluminum and other such ornamentation on seemingly every surface. To answer concerns from the interior reveal at Car Week though, it certainly doesn’t feel cheap. Still, it’s different from what you might be accustomed to, and warrants a try on for size. 

Finally revealed, the new Jags’ arrival should drown out the simple folks’ comment wringing over ‘woke.’ If anything now, it’s the ‘sedan’ identity that could use some clarification—but again, that’s more a problem for marketing than for the vehicle team itself. 

As demonstrated to us in Gaydon, the 2028 Jaguar Type 01 is attractively styled and pledges to check the key power, range, and charging measures it’ll need to as an upper-premium EV. And while not the most groundbreaking, it’s probably just as well that it isn’t stretching anything too wild at such an important moment for the brand. 

2028 Jaguar Type 01To be sure, shifting the Jaguar brand from the ~$120ks to the $180,000 range is bold. Fortunately for Jag, that bridge between upper-premium and half-mil luxe is a thinly contested space.

The slowing upper end of the EV market is likely the greater concern, but it’ll be barely more than a year from the car’s launch until a possible change in U.S. administration—and with that, a potential shift in industry and subsidy tides across the continent. North America aside, the new position and style should serve Jaguar well in the important Chinese market—though they’ll rightly force Gaydon to swap those sleek hidden door handles for proper exterior pulls.

And if you’re still caught up on the pastels: get real. 

Elle Alder

Elle Alder

Elle Alder is a staff editor and automotive journalist at National Post Driving. Educated in History, Alder's resume spans international archival research, skilled trades, humanitarian organization, photography and videography, freelance feature and script writing, on-camera presentation, copy editing, and editorial content planning and assignment.

Summary

Online Editor, Driving.ca
Trained researcher and writer
Bylines at National Post Driving, Donut Media, Autostrada Magazine, Porsche Provinz Magazine, and in syndication to newspapers across Canada
10+ years of experience as a working photographer
H.BA, History — Wilfrid Laurier University

Experience

Educated in History, Alder's resume spans international archival research, skilled trades, humanitarian organization, photography and videography, freelance writing, copy editing, and editorial content planning and assignment.

Having picked up a camera as a distraction from oft-gloomy subject matter in university, Alder's combination of photo skills and writing ability caught the attention of Canadian automotive publishers. Starting with classic-car special-interest stories and galleries in Porsche Provinz, Autostrada, and Hagerty Driver’s Club magazines, Alder later went on to photograph high-profile galleries for Driving before being hired as a staff editor. Elle Alder has also researched and written scripts for Donut Media productions, and has earned awards in Environmental Journalism, Feature Writing, and Photography from the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada.

As a full-time automotive journalist, Elle Alder's professional scope has broadened from the romance of classic motoring into both modern consumer vehicles and high-performance supercars, and to their on-camera presentation for video audiences. Alder also contributes as a videographer for other Driving reviewers, and has found mentorship to continue to expand on all of these skills.

Off-hours, Elle Alder drives and maintains a small collection of classic vehicles including a 1983 Porsche 944, 1997 Lada Niva, 1983 AMC Eagle wagon, 1959 Citroen ID 19, 1952 Tucker Sno-Cat, and a 1971 Massey-Ferguson Ski Whiz. Further hobbies include film development, fountain-pen and typewriter restoration, vinyl and cassette mixing, and model railroading.

Education

Elle Alder earned an Honours BA in History from Wilfrid Laurier University, with focuses on Soviet industrial planning and the modern Middle East. Between coursework, Alder worked as a Research Assistant both for faculty members and under third-party contract.

While a student, Alder also co-founded the University's International Students Overcoming War (ISOW) scholarship fund. Funded through an administration-matched student levy, this initiative partners with NGOs in regions of conflict to offer full scholarships to students whose studies have been impacted by war. ISOW remains a student-managed program more than a decade on, and has continued to grow its staff, budgets, and student rosters.

Contact Info

Email: ealder@postmedia.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ellealder
Instagram: www.instagram.com/analogmotoring