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Jaguar built its name on cars people wanted to stare at. The E-Type, the XJ, the XK120. Now the Type 01 is out in the open after its New York reveal, and people are staring again. Not all of them because they like it.

Some critics who saw it in person came away warmer than they expected, talking about presence and drama. Scroll through the comments, though, and the same words keep coming up. Ugly. Boring. Nothing special. For a brand that once sold on looks alone, that is a hard place to start.

Jaguar Bet Everything on the Look

This matters more than usual because Jaguar has said design is the whole pitch. Its bosses have been open that buyers at this price choose on emotion, and the powertrain sits way down the list.

So the Type 01 does not get to hide behind its numbers. If people do not fall for the shape, there is not much else in the plan to fall back on.

What People Are Seeing

The car keeps the Type 00 concept's huge grille-less nose, endless bonnet and high shoulder line, with a shallow strip of glass on top. There is no rear window at all, just a bootlid and a pop-up spoiler, with a camera doing the job of the mirror.

Fans of the old Jaguar look see a slab where they expected a curve. Others say it simply looks like every other big electric car, which may be the harsher call. Even Jaguar's own focus groups reportedly scored it either very low or very high, with almost nobody in the middle.

Are the Specs Even Special?

On paper the Type 01 is serious. Three motors make 757kW (about 1,015hp) and 1,365Nm, 0 to 100km/h takes 3.2 seconds, and a 118kWh battery is good for up to 720km. Prices start at £130,000 in the UK and around A$300,000 in Australia.

The problem is the company it keeps. A wave of Chinese electric cars now offers the same headline numbers, often for a fraction of the money.

Xiaomi SU7 Ultra. Around 1,500hp, launched in China at roughly the equivalent of US$73,000.
Zeekr 001 FR. Four motors and about 1,250hp for around US$105,000.
BYD Han L. Close to 1,100hp and 1,000kW charging, from under US$40,000 in China.

None of those are luxury GTs in the Jaguar sense, and big power is cheap to build in an electric car now. But it means a four-figure horsepower number no longer makes anyone look twice.

Can Ugly Still Sell?

There is a case for Jaguar here. Cars that start arguments often sell. Plenty of designs called ugly on day one ended up as icons, and the Type 00 got more people talking about Jaguar than anything it built in the last ten years.

The Type 01 also has real engineering under it. A 0.23 drag figure that makes it the most aerodynamic Jaguar ever, active aero, air suspension and software from a championship-winning Formula E team are not things you get on a spec sheet bargain.

Attention Is Not Desire

Sex sells. Shock gets clicks. The difference is that a click is free and a Jaguar costs more than a house in a lot of places. Getting people to look is the easy part. Getting them to want one is the job.

Orders open in early 2027. That is when we find out which one the Type 01 really is. What is your verdict, is it ugly or are we all going to come around?

#cardesign

Sex Sells. Does the Jaguar Type 01?