Jaguar’s new electric GT doesn’t shout about its 1,000PS output. Instead, it delivers something rarer: effortless speed, astonishing composure and a sense that the brand finally knows precisely where it’s going.
After spending time at JLR’s Gaydon test facility in one of the camouflaged development prototypes, it’s clear this isn’t Jaguar treading water while the internet argues about logos and colour palettes. This is a full-blooded production programme, already deep into testing, and it feels far more resolved than many expected.
Spoiler alert: the new 1,000PS tri-motor Jaguar is not just organ-rearranging fast; it’s the clearest statement yet that comfort and performance no longer need to be opposing forces.
Yes, there will be plenty who won’t read beyond the headline — already halfway through a YouTube rant declaring Jaguar finished. That’s fine. What matters is how this car actually drives.
Long, low and unapologetically dramatic, the new four-door GT has the proportions Jaguar has always leaned on when it wants to make a point. It’s longer than a Range Rover, lower than an F-TYPE, and has real presence without apology. Under the skin sits an all-new Jaguar Electric Architecture, developed solely for the brand’s electric future, with a tri-motor layout, torque vectoring, rear-wheel steering and four-corner air suspension and a price tag of £120,000.
I was taken out on the dummy ‘motorway’ and the bumpy real-world test circuits at Gaydon by development engineer Robert Burford. I suddenly became aware that our softly spoken conversation and relaxed enjoyment of the car’s surroundings were all happening at over 150 miles per hour! Apart from some wind bouncing off the camouflage lumps still attached to the car, it was utterly silent, no tyre noise, no bumps, no vibration – just effortless speed.
I’ve been in cars of nearly 1000 BHP before and at similar speeds, but you are usually shouting into an intercom, wrapped in Nomex and trying not to think of how quickly things can go wrong. Not with this Jaguar, though – the thing defies the laws of both physics and acoustics!
What surprised me most was how finished the car already feels. It’s rare to get access to a prototype this early. One of the important factors of the Grace, Space and Pace mantra was to deliver impressive performance alongside a silky-smooth ride. This is where the new Jaguar takes things to levels I have never experienced in any performance car.
Jaguar Managing Director Rawdon Glover is clear about the direction of travel:
“We remain 100 per cent committed to a pure-electric future and have entered the final stage in the development of our new all-electric Jaguar GT. Having driven it myself, I can assure everyone that it will have been worth the wait.”
On the move, speed is inevitable — it’s a 1,000PS Jaguar — but what’s surprising is how gently it’s delivered. The car is devastatingly fast yet calm, quiet and unflustered, even at the 150 miles per hour we took it to. It rejects the modern performance orthodoxy that says you must choose between comfort and control.
As Jaguar Vehicle Engineering Director Matt Becker puts it:
“Jaguar has always been about driving pleasure. Experiencing a connection to the driving experience but not at the expense of comfort or composure. This is what will underpin all future Jaguar models.”
Is it still a commercial risk? Undeniably. Jaguar is choosing fewer customers, not more, and doubling down on an all-electric strategy at a time when others are hedging. But after experiencing this car in motion, it’s clear this isn’t guesswork.
As Glover explains:
“This Jaguar is a car that you will buy because you want it rather than need it. It will deliver a unique experience… If we’d tried to hedge our bets, the result would have been a compromise. It wouldn’t look like this, and it wouldn’t drive like this.”
After stepping out of the prototype, one thought lingered far longer than the noise online: Jaguar hasn’t lost its way. It’s quietly rebuilding, properly.
The full story, including in-depth impressions, engineering insight and exclusive imagery, appears in the January edition of Jaguar Enthusiast Magazine.
If you think Jaguar is finished — you’ll want to read it.
Published first here: www.jec.org.uk/magazine
5 Responses
‘Grace, pace and space’…but no mention of the flagship Mk10 that defined the slogan…what a car.
What matters most is not what the car actually drives like (although we all like & appreciate effortless performance).
What matters most to many is what the car actually looks like !
What attracts you to any car in the first instance ? Making you think I want that. I would say it’s what it looks like.
We can forgive a lot if we are seated in a beautiful machine that everybody looks at twice and thinks Wow.
Nobody wants to drive an ugly Box !
Just my opinion, I appreciate others may have very different feelings on the new design.
I do wonder about the weight and range of an electric car mounting 1000PS. Of course it will be made of aluminium, like my XE, and my previous two X350 (Xj6) saloons. So maybe it won’t be excessively heavy. The style very clearly goes back to the SS saloons. These set Jaguar off on their long and successful progress, but with a price of £120k the potential market is small. Let’s hope a cheaper Jaguar EV will come along at some point.
As an I Pace driver x 2 and owner of many new JLR products including ICE jags and R Rovers I look forward to this being available. £120k seems good value given I pace in full fettle was just on £80k and Range rovers are way above this. There is a big gap waiting post I Pace for those that love them and have got into EV mode. Owners know that they did a good job on the I Pace which was revolutionary and became world car of the year. So the future of low volume sales requirements rather than mass looks good. Would also like to see a sports car option coming soon.
Clearly Wayne Scott is very enthusiastic about the electric Jaguar GT and of course he is entitled to his opinion about the car’s virtues. We cannot pass judgement on its looks because it is so heavily camouflaged. However it’s pointless extolling the fact that the car does 150mph when we still have a 70 limit on motorways and the UK’s road network is so heavily congested. The top speed is therefore meaningless. The comment about silence at speed is nothing new. We have seen it with the XJ6. Neither is the grace, space and pace slogan new. This was an advertising feature for MKVII’s in the 1950’s. The new car may be fantastic but at what price? Only the super rich can afford to pay £120,000 plus (either out of earned income or inherited wealth) so the value for money which Jaguars were renowned for has gone, possibly forever. The market for such a car can only be reached by a tiny minority of very wealthy people. The “ordinary” man can never aspire to buying it unless he were to win the lottery. Is that the future we want for the car we have loved for all these years, the exclusive domain of those who have the means to pay such money.