Following an unprecedented maelstrom of marketing controversy and mainstream provocation, Jaguar’s ballyhooed EV concept has finally seen the light day

Jaguar‘s freshly unveiled coupe concept is dubbed Type 00—the first zero representing the brand’s zero emissions future, and the second signifying its status as the ground level for Jaguar’s new direction. This concept sets the path for a future production version that will be unveiled in late 2025.

And what a direction it is, a monolithic design theme that’s fully divorced from the brand’s origins which date to Sir William Lyons’ vision circa 1933. As design director Richard Stevens says, the creative brief for Jaguar designers was to “… understand where we’ve come from, but don’t be harnessed by it. Be fearlessly creative.”

Nearly a century since the SS 2.5-liter sedan first wore the feline leaper, Jaguar has departed entirely from the complex curves that defined watersheds like the Mark II and the E-Type. Unabashedly planar, linear and expansive, the new design embraces a stark modernist aesthetic and flips the bird to tradition—and virtually everything else on the road for that matter. Copy nothing, indeed.

Resting on a lavish wheelbase that appears capable of accommodating multiple rows of well-heeled passengers (but in fact only carries two), the Type 00 leads with a flat, slightly faceted frontal surface whose relationship to a traditional grille is entirely perfunctory. Thanks to the EV platform’s minimal cooling needs, the frontal surface is ribbed but not porous, tipping a small hat to convention without entirely pandering to it. Front and center is also one of the only places the reimagined Jaguar branding appears, in all its non-serifed, capitalized G and U glory.

Big 23-inch wheels sit snugly within wheelarches, and in another visual reference to front-engine grand tourers of yesteryear, a massive dash-to-axle ratio separates the passenger compartment from the prodigious snout despite the absence of an internal combustion powerplant to fill the space. Global PR boss Ken McConomy defends the choice as a way to stand apart from the design language typically embraced by EVs, which usually abbreviate the hood and sit high atop a stack of batteries. Accenting the lower panel just aft of the front wheels is a small brass ingot finished in a leaper logo, which discreetly extends to reveal a side camera.

Behind the steeply raked windshield is a flush, clean cabin whose lack of topographical features is countered by rich materials including three longitudinal brass spines that bisect the dashboard. The otherwise stark dash has two large, letterboxed screens that rise up when desired and tuck flat for digital detox, with a small, discrete display offering speed information. A low profile digital rearview mirror is also embedded nearby, keeping the visual sightlines clean and uninterrupted.

Though the Type 00 concept is very much abstract and ambitious in its execution, there is a concession to real, usable luxury in the form of a soundbar speaker that’s upholstered in the same Kvadrat wool textile that covers the seats. Adding a splash of surprise is a strip of blue within one of the central spines. Complementing the wool texture are travertine surfaces that support the seats and brass spines. The stone is a substantive choice that speaks to the ultra-luxury aspirations of the next iteration of the Jaguar brand. Here’s to hoping it gets employed in the production version, as its presence is a breath of fresh air in the sometimes stale realm of automotive materials. “We didn’t chase volume,” the brand’s managing director, Rawden Glover, says of the past, suggesting the automaker’s upscale materials choices support that approach. “We created desirable motor vehicles that connected at an emotional level. We’re all about desirability.”

Rounding out the tail is a fastback roofline that resolves in an abbreviated haunch with flat, abrupt tail finished in the so-called strikethrough pattern of horizontal slots which frame an expanse of brake lights. Along with the blunt flatness of the nose, these bookends lend an air of brutalism to Jaguar’s new concept which has already angered brand diehards who are quick to call out the brand’s original ideals of Grace, Space and Pace. “Imagine the boldness it took to introduce the E-Type,” one Jaguar designer suggests, referencing what Enzo Ferrari would later famously dub “the most beautiful car in the world.” The world had never seen anything like that before.

The new rectilinear vision begs the question: is it blasphemous to reverse course and replace curves with sharp creases and straight lines? Perhaps. But it’s also Jaguar’s obligation to reinvent themselves when the brand has been teetering on the edge of irrelevance and flagging sales for years. With that urgency knocking on the door, the Type 00 emerges not as an evolution, but as a revolution, an electrical paddle to the heart in hopes of resuscitating a once-great brand. Here’s to hoping that Jaguar not only lives but thrives in this brave new world.