What Jaguar’s Type 00 concept car tells us about its design direction

To state the necessary but obvious: Jaguar will continue to build electric cars, so in that sense they won’t do anything stunningly original. Some concept cars are wild, fantastic visions of the future with lots of ideas that never come to fruition.

Much needed specificity

In this case, the company is serious about the concept, which is leading to something: a long-range grand tourer, to be unveiled late next year, built in the UK and capable of 430 miles of range on a single charge, as well as a range of 200 Miles offers -Miles fast charging in 15 minutes. It sets out a vision of practicality that could serve as the basis for Jaguar’s unique selling point. We may not know what it offers in terms of comfort, technology, safety and driving pleasure until the real car is launched.

Branding expert James Greenfield from Koto – one of the commentators on our first Jaguar analysis – spoke further after the Miami event.

“It has launched a car that is all about exuberance, and that is a new code for vehicles. It’s luxury, but in a different, more eye-catching way. It is not the quiet luxury of today. It is oriented towards fashion and hospitality. But it’s not clear enough that that was their intention,” Greenfield says.

At the time of the identity reveal, I pointed out that over the past five years, car brands have been developing new visual identities that rely heavily on electrification and are often characterized by bright, glowing badges. Jaguar is going in a completely different direction and in that context “Copy Nothing” starts to make more sense. However, it was the copy that was the most difficult to deconstruct at the time of identity launch. My first reaction was declarative and yet banal.

For Greenfield, “‘Live Vivid’, ‘Delete Ordinary’ and ‘Copy Nothing’ still seem too disjointed.”

Concept images leaked to the automotive press before launch turned out to be official. Together with a host of other promotional materials, they show that the Type 00 builds on the visual language expressed by the new identity, with particular emphasis on color.

The unveiled concept car is shown in Miami Pink and London Blue, no less. According to Jaguar, the former is intended to reference the Art Deco environment and the latter to the British heritage.

Greenfield says: “London Blue, a color influenced by a 1960s E-Type but shown with an image of the Lloyds Building? This is not the correct source; it is not evocative, so logic breaks.

“I don’t know enough about vehicle design to comment on the car, as much as I’m a petrolhead, but you can imagine it parked outside a fancy hotel, the sun shining and people coveting the lifestyle that the old Jaguar had lost. So it’s pretty successful in reinventing it, but everything could have been done a little better, is my overwhelming feeling.”

As for other new elements, the Type 00 concept car’s name sounds a bit like a non-alcoholic beer, but it also suggests a new era and it will be interesting to see how this affects future naming conventions.

Forgetting the angry, leather-glove-wearing vintage car enthusiasts and pointed “woke” criticism mentioned above, it’s easier to focus on the designed elements of identity that we’ve already criticized. We’ve found that a lot of the design criticism stems from the elements not fitting together very well, the identity as a whole standing for nothing (although that’s changing) and the launch being confusing – but perhaps, as others have pointed out, Jaguar had the last laugh here.

As for the new introductory video, it may seem rather smug and pretentious, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be effective. The automotive industry has never lacked confidence, so this position does not seem out of place.

Jaguar will likely succeed despite the circus that surrounds him

It has already been noted that Jaguar is looking for a new customer who is believed to be young, wealthy and ambitious. This person is probably not your average design critic or designer.

Greenfield’s key reflection is: “Having seen Jaguar’s entire rebranding process, this is a great example of the importance of delving into the details. Now that we see everything, it makes a lot more sense. Is this a car for me? No not really. Ornate with a little bling, but it will be great for someone. I imagine the streets of Dubai will be full of them. What went wrong? Mainly the text and the art direction.”