British luxury automaker Jaguar has launched its first vehicle since a radical rebrand that caused consternation, and sparked a small-time culture war with some critics calling it woke.
Big and broad, with no sign of Jaguars traditional curves, the Type 01 is a fully electric four-door grand tourer that may unsettle fans of the manufacturers previously heritage-heavy image. But the brand claims it is the most technically advanced and aerodynamic Jaguar ever engineered, according to a press statement from parent company JLR on Wednesday.
The announcement is a big step in Jaguars relaunch, which got off to a decidedly rocky start in 2024.
Back then, under the tagline copy nothing, Jaguar published a promotional video featuring a diverse cast of models posing and moving through an otherworldly landscape.
The video was notable for the fact that it didnt feature any cars, and it drew the ire of traditionalists, who accused Jaguar of going woke.
The internet went mad, the anti-woke brigade went mad, even Elon Musk criticized it, said automotive journalist Mark Smyth. It threw out everything Jaguar has built over a century, including its customers.
Showpiece for the elite
The Type 01 will be available from early 2027, with prices starting from 05130,000 ($172,000), moving the company firmly into the upper end of the luxury car market.
Both the new model and the wider rebrand present a massive risk to the business, according to Smyth and other industry commentators.
Gone is the curvaceous design legacy of the brand, replaced by brutalist minimalism and cold surfaces, Smyth added, also highlighting the cars cutting edge technology and engineering.
This is not a mainstream production car though, it is a showpiece for the elite, he said.
The Type 01 is probably too big for most UK cities, suggesting the US is its main target market, said Smyth, referencing the cars 5.2 meter (17 feet) length and two meter (6.6 feet) width.
Writing in The Guardian , journalist Zoe Williams raised similar concerns, alleging that the Type 01 would be too big to fit into any UK car parking space, adding that the vehicle looks more like a tank than a car.
Stuart Masson, editorial director at automotive market advisory firm The Car Expert, told CNN that the Type 01 is a gamble that could prove decisive for the survival of the company.
I think Jaguar was a brand that probably more than any other really kind of relied on its heritage and its glory days from in particular the 1950s, he said. The rebrand consciously basically just swept all that away in one go and said were brand new, were starting again.
So it really upended everything that people thought about Jaguar, which was the point, but when you do that you are going to inevitably upset a lot of people who expect the company to be a certain way, he added.
The real test, he said, is how theyre going to go trying to sell an electric Jaguar for more than double the price of what the old Jaguars tended to be.
If theyre going to survive they have to do something different, but this is very much last chance saloon stuff for Jaguar, he said.
英国豪华汽车制造商捷豹在经历了一场引发争议、并激起小规模文化冲突的激进品牌重塑后，推出了首款新车。一些批评人士将此次重塑称为“觉醒”行为。
捷豹Type 01车身宽大，毫无传统曲线设计痕迹，是一款纯电动四门豪华旅行车，可能会让那些钟情于该品牌以往厚重历史形象的粉丝感到不安。不过，据母公司捷豹路虎（JLR）周三发布的新闻稿称，捷豹声称这是“有史以来技术最先进、空气动力学性能最优”的车型。
这一公告是捷豹品牌重塑过程中的一大步，而该重塑计划在2024年开局便颇为坎坷。
彼时，捷豹以“不复制任何事物”为口号，发布了一支宣传视频，片中一群多元化的模特在超脱尘世的景观中摆出各种姿态，穿梭其间。
这段视频之所以引人注目，是因为它完全没有出现任何汽车，这引发了传统主义者的愤怒，他们指责捷豹变得“过于觉醒”。
“互联网炸开了锅，反‘觉醒’阵营也炸开了锅，就连埃隆·马斯克都对此提出批评，”汽车记者马克·史密斯表示。“这一做法抛弃了捷豹一个世纪以来积累的一切，包括它的客户。”
“精英阶层的展示品”
Type 01 将于2027年初上市，起售价为13万英镑（约合17.2万美元），此举将使该公司坚定地迈入豪华汽车市场的高端领域。
据史密斯及其他行业评论人士称，新款车型及更广泛的品牌重塑举措，均给该业务带来了“巨大风险”。
“该品牌一贯的曲线设计传统已不复存在，取而代之的是粗野主义极简风格和冷峻的表面，”史密斯补充道，同时他还强调了这款车的前沿科技与工程工艺。
他表示：“然而，这并非一款面向大众的量产车型，而是专为精英阶层打造的展示之作。”
史密斯表示：“Type 01 型车长5.2米（约17英尺）、宽2米（约6.6英尺），对英国大多数城市来说可能太大了，这表明其主要目标市场是美国。”
记者佐伊·威廉姆斯在《卫报》撰文表达了类似的担忧，称Type 01车型体积过大，“无法停进英国的任何停车位”，并补充说这款车“看起来更像坦克，而非汽车”。
汽车市场咨询公司The Car Expert的编辑总监斯图尔特·马森告诉CNN，Type 01是一场豪赌，其结果可能对公司的存亡起到决定性作用。
“我认为，捷豹这个品牌，可能比其他任何品牌都更依赖于其历史传承，尤其是上世纪50年代的辉煌岁月，”他说。“此次品牌重塑，实际上是有意将这一切一笔勾销，并宣告‘我们焕然一新，重新出发’。”
“所以这确实颠覆了人们对捷豹的所有固有认知，而这正是我们的目的所在。但当你这样做时，必然会惹恼许多期待这家公司保持某种既定形象的人，”他补充道。
“真正的考验，”他说，“是他们将如何尝试以比旧款捷豹汽车通常价格高出一倍多的售价，来销售一款电动捷豹。”
他说：“如果他们想要生存下去，就必须做出改变，但这对于捷豹来说，无异于最后的机会。”
