Jaguar’s new electric car will debut in 2026
“We’ll unveil it next year and start taking orders. Then deliveries will start relatively soon after that,” explained Jaguar CEO Rawdon Glover in an interview with US broadcaster ABC News. As early as July 2025, it became known that parent company JLR would postpone the market launch of its upcoming fully electric models – primarily that of the Range Rover Electric. Now the electric Jaguar is affected as well.
In the interview, Glover also spoke about the orientation and design of the upcoming electric car. Although the model will essentially follow the polarising design language of the Type 00 concept, it will not be a direct production version of that car.
“We’re not looking for everybody to say, “That’s nice.” I think great design does polarize, whether that’s in fashion or architecture or whatever else. So having the confidence to say this is what we think the 21st century Jaguar should look like and then sticking to that is very important,” Glover explained, adding: “To see the car physically is very different than seeing it on a phone. People can see it [in person] and understand the proportions, the drama, the scale of the vehicle”
The car itself is expected to be a four-door GT. “A very sporty vehicle that’s similar to what you see today. And it will be the most powerful Jaguar ever,” announced the Jaguar CEO. He did not provide any data on technology or performance. Instead, the conversation focused on defending the decision made in 2021 to radically realign the brand.
Glover aims to explain the concept and design of the Type 00 – and not leave it standing as a mere provocation. “I spend a lot of time with Jaguar enthusiasts. When you have the time to explain and really walk through why the Type 00 looks the way it does, they get it,” said Glover. “I would say the vast majority [of customers] are positive. Trying to make a judgment on your phone or on social media, it’s more nuanced than that.”
Jaguar had already announced that the production model would be a four-door GT when it unveiled the concept in December 2024. At the time, it stated that the EV would be based on the Jaguar Electric Architecture (JEA) and offer up to 770 kilometres of WLTP range.
There is a simple reason why Glover gave the interview to a US broadcaster and not a British automotive magazine: Jaguar expects the United States to be its biggest market – even though JLR does not have a US plant and will therefore face import duties, and the American EV market faces uncertainty after the expiry of federal incentives.
“If I look back at Jaguar in its heyday, when Jaguar was most successful, the US was our biggest market,” said Glover. “There is a passion for the Jaguar brand here that’s probably as strong as anywhere else in the globe. Understanding why we made such a bold change … we were all of the view that [the brand] needed something much more drastic.”
This article was first published by Sebastian Schaal for electrive’s German edition.
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