The next Jaguar

So what can we tell from a first glance at these images? Not much, other than that the car is a low-slung GT in proportion and apparent roofline, which we already knew. But it’s worth pointing out that the images are of what will become the production car and not the Miami-bound concept, which might look very similar but which could also look completely different.

The press release that goes with it amounts to a grand total of 166 words, all carefully calibrated to tell us nothing about the car that’s not already in the public domain, which at this stage is fair enough. But if you’re interested it’s already done tens of thousands of miles of virtual and real world testing and prototypes will soon be seen in public too. It will be built in Solihull on a dedicated Jaguar platform called JEA, but that was known too.

Looking closer it interests me that with its conspicuously long bonnet, short front and large rear overhang that Jaguar appears to eschewing modern ‘cab forward’ proportions for something more in the Jaguar tradition with passengers sat further back with acres of metal rising ahead of them. As I see it, finding a way of harnessing its heritage without becoming inextricably tied to it is one of the biggest challenges Jaguar’s designers face. It tried to do retro before, and both literally and figuratively the results weren’t pretty. It will be fascinating to see how it has tried to resolve this conundrum. And I’d not be reading too much into that trapezoidal grille if I were you: there will doubtless be some front end treatment, but with no need for a radiator, there’s no reason to think this will be it.

So for now we wait. It has been widely speculated and not denied that the fully fledged range will include both this four-door GT, a more conventional saloon and an SUV so I think we can take that as a given. And we know that the brand will be repositioned way upmarket from where it has been of late, so if average transaction prices don’t go from under £50,000 now to over £100,000 in two years’ time I for one will be very surprised indeed.

In the meantime Jaguar will be hoping with all it can hope that the current wave of EV-scepticism sweeping the world will have blown in and blown out again long before it comes to market. I’m not saying the future of the brand depends upon it; but it just might.