After its initial unveiling in Miami a few months ago, The Jaguar Type 00 (pronounced “zero zero” and don’t dare call it “double-oh”) made the rounds at Monterey Car Week, offering an intimate look at the future-facing concept car on world renowned stages like MotorLux and The Quail. Here’s everything I found out after an up-close-and-personal weekend with the British marque’s controversially radical EV.
First and foremost, the Type 00 is about design. This is a high-concept concept car that isn’t just meant to excite car lovers worldwide, it’s intended to be the cornerstone of the Jaguar brand’s divisive, occasionally controversial, and historically unprecedented relaunch. Never before has a century-old brand so completely started over…until now.
The release of early images had been accused of being AI-generated by social media users, but I can attest that the Type 00 is very real. The hard lines of the car’s body, heavy use of linear design language and the choice of super-saturated, satin-finished paintjobs in bold colors like the French Ultramarine shown at Monterey Car Week and Paris Fashion Week make images of the Type 00 look more like a teenage gearhead fantasy drawings, hence the AI accusations. In person, it is purely a physically imposing vehicle of unmatched proportions. Whether in photos or real life, it is impossible to take your eyes off the Type 00. Jaguar, at least for the concept, has created something stunningly beautiful and completely unique.
Note that the production model is still months away from being unveiled. The Type 00 concept’s journey from pedestals on the Monterey peninsula to something that sits besides Land Rovers on dealer lots is a long one. A concept car doesn’t need to pass DOT crash standards. It doesn’t have to concern itself with range, user-friendliness or a parts-support system. Perhaps most importantly, it doesn’t have to worry about reliability, longevity or price. Every single one of those concerns are legitimate checkpoints that will almost certainly force at transformation from the Type 00 concept into what it ultimately becomes next year. I’m open to being pleasantly surprised, and I remain optimistic, but it would be foolish not to be apprehensive.
That mix of hope and apprehension underpinned almost every conversation I had with other car gurus about the Type 00. We all want the car to have 400-plus mile range and a sub-four second 60 mph time like many EVs. We want the hyped use of brass trimmings to remain and the abundance of touchscreens that’s so ubiquitous in new cars to stay hidden, folded away or just plain absent. We want the bright, saturated, satin colors to make it to the public. We want the butterfly doors to stay in the picture. Unfortunately, on the last point (and potentially the several prior), we won’t be getting our way since it’s been confirmed that the model ultimately making its way to the public will be a four-door.
Dreamy hopes and lofty aspirations aside, Jaguar’s head honchos and design teams assure us that the end result, one that they’ve actually laid eyes on, is a recognizable relative of the beast in these pictures. I hope they’re right, not just because of what it means for Jaguar as a brand, but what it means for the future of luxury vehicles overall.
A walk around Monterey was proof enough that the state of luxury right now is gaudy and ostentatious while simultaneously lacking class and substance. Maybachs are plastered with logos on every piece of trim while amounting to little more than punched up, mid-range soccer mom SUV in terms of performance and spirit. Bentley’s EXP 15 concept SUV loudly proclaims its heritage while looking like more of a Genesis than anything I’d expect of the storied English coachmaker.
Jaguar, with the Type 00, is zigging while the competition is zagging. Understatement, refinement and innovation are top priorities here. Understatement in that the Type 00 has almost no badging, with the legendary leaping cat quietly etched on the side trim with no hood ornamentation at all. Refinement, using luxurious materials to make a ride that’s about the drive and the driver, not touchscreens and automation. Innovation, by putting all of this into a body unlike anything that’s come before, within the Jaguar brand or without.
At this point, the Jaguar brand and the Type 00 are inextricably linked, with the former’s future depending almost entirely on the latter’s success, ditching the brand’s heritage almost entirely. The Type 00 eschews every previous Jag, save for vague similarities in proportion and wheelbase. The only real philosophy that links the past and the future is a philosophy of making cars that are luxurious, iconic and instantly recognizable; precisely what the Type 00 sets out to do and where the brand intends to go. If the end result is exciting, divisive and even unintentionally political, then mission accomplished.