Official: first all-new electric Jaguar is £100k four-door GT

“This is unfinished business,” JLR boss Adrian Mardell said. “Jaguar is going to be reborn.”

And that rebirth begins with the first of three entirely new Jaguar electric cars: a four door GT with a starting price of £100,000.

Indeed. After a period of silence - acknowledged by Jag’s senior team as necessary while they hashed out the storied British car brand’s future - we now know something about how the Big Cat will ‘purr again’.

It’ll sit on a dedicated new chassis dubbed ‘Jaguar Electric Architecture’ - remember Jaguar will transition into an electric only brand from 2025 - that’ll underpin those three new cars, at least to begin with.

Jaguar is targeting an all electric range of 700km (430 miles) from the new GT’s powertrain… and a lot of power. “This will be the most powerful Jaguar ever,” CFO Lennard Hoornik told TG. Jaguar wouldn’t confirm any specifics at this early stage, but we’re assured horses will be PLENTIFUL.

Jaguar isn’t building its own battery cells, but Mardell confirmed owner Tata - a “nurturing” parent - will be constructing a gigafactory in Europe. Jag’s already secured a supply.

Meanwhile Jaguar is investing £1bn, and will build these new electric cars in a bespoke facility in Solihull.

As to how this new Jaguar - indeed all three new Jags - will look? Creative boss Gerry McGovern said they will be “a copy of nothing”. That’s actually how Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons originally briefed his team as to what his company’s creations should look like; to basically stand apart, not be a rival for, anything on offer at the time.

There was a tacit admission that Jaguar’s previous strategy of trying to compete in the mainstream perhaps wasn’t the greatest success, so creatively the new generation will be ‘modern, unique, exuberant’.

“When these new Jaguars appear for the first time, they need to have a jaw dropping moment,” McGovern said. There was mention of making sure these new car designs ‘shock’.

Under the title ‘Project Renaissance’, McGovern tasked his team to entirely reimagine what Jaguar looks like. Some 18 models were built by three design teams in a very short space of time. Indeed they’re still finessing the final designs now.

There’s been no mention of nameplates, nor what form the next two cars will take. When pushed by TG on one of the three new electric cars being a two-door, two-seat sportscar - part of Jaguar’s DNA you’d argue - they wouldn’t confirm.

A final note about badging, mind: there’ll now be a ‘house of brands’ spanning Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar. Each is its own brand if you will, McGovern noting how, for example, ‘Land Rover Range Rover’ is a bit of a mouthful.

That said, Land Rover - a nameplate with a country tonne of heritage and equity - will underpin RR, Disco and Defender. So, glad that’s cleared up then.

What was clear was Mardell and the senior team’s passion about Jaguar’s long-anticipated revival; about its Britishness and storied heritage. Mardell himself has been working at JLR for 32 years in a career spanning 19 roles, the most recent one at the very top of the tree… having started as an apprentice. So it means a lot.

“This is the beginning to put right unfinished business,” Mardell said of Jaguar’s all-electric revival. “This is personal.”