Is the Type 01 a genuine Jaguar?
This question has dogged the new model since its first appearances. It
pops up in comments, on forums, on social media and presumably also at
many a local pub. It is usually discussed in terms of electric mobility, design
and tradition. But the more interesting question is another: how
does a brand tell the story of its future when its greatest strength has always been its history?
Jaguar currently has a remarkably clever answer to this, which has nothing
to do with range or charging capacity. The manufacturer begins the
story of the Type 01 with memories. More specifically, with an XK120. An
E-Type. An XJS. Cars that could hardly be more different, and yet
share something in common. They have always been vehicles that combined speed with
poise – and luxury with British individuality. But there was one thing
they all had in common: they were unmistakable.
So the designers did not begin their work by considering what a
future Jaguar should look like. Instead, they asked: What actually makes a Jaguar
a Jaguar? They sought the answer directly on the road. They drove the very
cars that had shaped the brand’s legend over the decades. And they did so
with great curiosity and with the realisation that defining characteristics of brand identity,
such as the driving experience, cannot simply be deduced – they must be experienced
for themselves.
