This all bodes well for when we eventually get to drive the final production of the Type 00. But of course there’s much that can still go wrong between now and then. And considering the company’s form of late, you wouldn’t bet against fate dealing Jaguar yet another bad hand.
Glover is clear all this was necessary, however, to ensure the survival of the brand. “Jaguar had to change. Jaguar was not commercially viable,” he says. “We think there’s a space right at the top end of premium, but underneath the uber luxury of the Rolls Royce, the Lamborghinis, the Bentleys. There’s a big gap between 140,000 euros and 300,000. There’s not a lot going on there in terms of volume. Jaguar has been successful in that place in our past.”
Glover adds that this four-door GT is “not going to be the largest volume seller in the range of Jaguars that are to come—but the role of this car is to position us at this price point.” What’s more, Glover confirms Jaguar is already way down the road developing the EV coming after this GT, which will land in the same price bracket.
“The next car is locked,” he says. “We know exactly what it’s going to look like—inside and out. And it’s going to follow pretty quickly.” Jaguar has already made the first battery prototype of this next car, and, unlike the GT, Glover says this “car 2” will be the volume seller, the EV to turn around the brand’s financial fortunes.
However, considering the seismic shifts taking place this very week in automotive land, might Jaguar use this last opportunity to hedge its bets, take a leaf out of Ford’s book and rethink to producing combustion versions of these relaunch electric vehicles?
Glover looks doubtful in the extreme: “Anything’s possible, but it’s not in our plan.”