Salvador Dali was out there in his surrealism and otherworldliness, yet people still loved him. So why is that Jaguar’s imposing new Type 01 so divisive?
In a way it is actually mirroring Jaguar’s decade long marketing push in Formula E. It is unconventional, barrier breaking and going against the accepted grain. But isn’t that what all innovative high-tech projects should do?
It was Dali too, who said that “the thermometer of success is merely the jealousy of the malcontents.”
The whiners and the critics have had their say, and they will continue to do so. Yes, Jaguar’s infamous brand re-alignment wasn’t for everyone in late 2024 and was widely ridiculed, and yes its traditions in many areas were detached. Yet, so too a new era was born, and with comes many similarities to what Formula E has experienced since it was born in 2014.
Formula E was, from the outset, trying to make electric vehicles more attractive. It has certainly achieved that now. The tropes of ‘woke’ and ‘bandwagon jumping’ are just that. Tired old cliches. You don’t get angry reading the not so ‘hot-takes’ anymore, you tend to just just yawn and move on.
The Jaguar Type 01, launched in New York City this week, and attended by Jaguar TCS Racing driver, Antonio Felix da Costa is the most powerful Jaguar road car ever conceived, with up to 1,030PS and 1,365Nm. Type 01 pulls from 62‑112mph (100‑180km/h) in 4.0 seconds – 0‑62mph (0‑100km/h) in 3.2 seconds.
“Jaguar has always been a brand I have been extremely passionate about and that has only grown since I joined the team last year,” said da Costa.
“To introduce Jaguar Type 01 to the world is really exciting and to drive the car as part of its global reveal is a huge honour and a really proud moment. Type 01 is like nothing I’ve driven before and its power is incredible. “Jaguar has always had motorsport in its DNA and so it’s amazing that the learnings from competing in Formula E have helped the engineering development of Jaguar Type 01.”
The beast has ‘850‑volt architecture and 118kWh usable battery deliver an expected EPA range of up to 400 miles. Sustained highway speed range of up to 320 miles.’ This is a serious motor and one that noted automotive journalist Steve Fowler said, “looks incredible” and makes him “proud to be British”.
“Not everyone will like it – that’s fine. Not everyone has to!” Fowler added on the social media platform, X.
That bats against the backlash from many critics, yet their reactions often comes from simplifying great heritage brands when they explore something new, such as EVs. Put simply, so many of us just don’t like change.
Look at Maserati and Ferrari, each have crackled from horrendous reaction and sales of EV products, with the Prancing Horse causing former President, Luca di Montezemolo went puce with rage when he exclaimed that the all-electric Ferrari Luce was “risking the destruction of a legend!”
At ease, Luca! It’s a young person’s game now, so give your cardiologist a break. Ferrari won’t fall due to an EV model as much as it won’t degrade because it hasn’t won an F1 title for almost two decades.
In a sense its like Bernie Ecclestone not understanding social media. Remember that? And, really, why should a nonagenarian former motorcycle dealer and brilliant sporting business opportunist from the last century even be close to the pulse anyway?
In that sense, the backlash against EV’s is as inevitable as Bernie’s ambivalence to what happens online these days. Yet, had he been open to it 20 years ago he might have made another billion quid or two. A man with a commercial mind, he’d probably agree with you on that, if you asked him now.
Jaguar’s commitment to Formula E is assured until 2030 and it has in fact increased its commitment now, with six cars on the grid via the customer Fortescue Zero squad’s takeover of Penske.
Equally, its subsequent models of the Type 01 are also likely, including a GT version for the Big Cat. So, It’s now over to the marketeers to sell the products, and Jaguar TCS Racing and Jaguar as a manufacturer in Formula E has and will continue to play in a part in that bigger picture going forward, which is the direction that Jaguar has focused on for well over a decade now.
The malcontents should pipe down and enjoy the creativity, whether you like the slightly surreal Dali-esque sensibilities or not.
