The shock of Jaguar’s colourful and deliberately provocative relaunch in December 2024 is still fresh in the minds of many car enthusiasts. Yet Jaguar remains firmly committed to its timetable, positioning and product strategy. We joined the development team and found that this luxury GT represents far more than a bold restart.
Jaguar loyalists who have remained patient since the brand’s major reveal at Art Basel in Miami a year ago will need a little more restraint. The official rebirth of the marque and its first new model are still some way off. Before late summer next year, the first new car, a Gran Turismo measuring more than 5.20 metres in length, will remain under wraps. Initial customers are unlikely to take their seats until spring 2027, in a luxury saloon that aims to overturn everything Jaguar has done before. Despite ongoing protests and several manufacturers rowing back from all-electric strategies, Jaguar’s future flagship will be both enormous and fully electric. Project manager Rawdon Glover is clear: “We are fully committed to a purely electric future and are now in the final development phase of our new electric Jaguar GT. Having driven it myself, I can assure you the wait will be worth it.”
A visit to Gaydon and Jaguar Land Rover’s tightly secured development centre confirms that impression. Even beneath heavy black-and-white camouflage, the four-door GT looks imposing and powerful. The front, with its narrow LED light signatures, appears more intimidating than the gloomy British sky, while the rear features dramatically sculpted wheel arches. Inside them sit enormous 23-inch wheels mounted on well-used prototype rims. Crucially, these wheels are intended to be standard equipment, not optional extras, as Glover emphasises. Technical highlights include rear-wheel steering and air suspension, while propulsion comes from three electric motors, one at the front and two at the rear. Total output is around 735 kW, equivalent to roughly 1,000 PS, with torque comfortably exceeding 1,000 Nm. A battery of around 120 kWh is expected to deliver a range of up to 700 kilometres.
What this drivetrain is capable of becomes clear from the passenger seat of one of around 150 prototypes currently undergoing global testing. The seating position is unusually low and the cabin remarkably quiet as test engineer Navid Shamshiri accelerates onto the high-speed circuit. After a few gentle familiarisation laps, the electric GT surges beyond 200 km/h in seconds. The car feels planted and supremely stable, with its long wheelbase and wide track perfectly suited to a vehicle that will be built in Solihull. “To develop a car that drives as well as it looks, we carried out the most comprehensive development programme in Jaguar’s history,” explains Shamshiri, before unleashing the car again and gliding through a roundabout with almost casual ease.
Inside, beneath the dark camouflage panels, the atmosphere is restrained yet luxurious. Leather is everywhere, carpets are deep, and four individual seats provide generous comfort. The instruments, however, are smaller than expected, and the central touchscreen would not look out of place on a large smartphone. In this prototype, there is no sign of a passenger display or head-up display. Whether that will be sufficient remains to be seen, especially as Jaguar’s repositioning extends to pricing. Entry-level figures are expected to start well north of €150,000, placing the electric GT in rarefied territory where everything must be right.
The window surfaces are relatively small, while the body panels are expansive, giving the prototype an almost concept-car presence. Even on the handling circuit, and despite poor weather, the future Jaguar impresses with its balanced chassis setup. It feels firm but never harsh, with air suspension front and rear. “There has never been a Jaguar like this,” says Rawdon Glover. “In 2026, Jaguar returns and opens a bold new chapter. This GT is the first of a new generation of luxury electric vehicles, the most technologically advanced Jaguar ever built and a car unlike anything else in appearance or driving experience.” Now, Jaguar must ensure that its marketing and brand repositioning can match the ambition of the car itself.
