Jaguar Debuts ‘Type 00’ Electric Concept Car Amid Controversial Rebrand
Elon Musk and Joe Rogan were among those who weighed in on Jaguar’s bold new look.
On the heels of a divisive ad campaign launched last month, not to mention a logo overhaul and a rather dramatic departure from its own heritage, Jaguar just announced its Type 00 electric car concept as part of its “radical new design language,” and suffice to say, the jury is still out.
A two-week-old teaser ad and recent comments made by a Jaguar executive drew attention from not just the automotive world, but Elon Musk, Joe Rogan and hordes of internet commenters. Rogan didn’t take issue with the ad itself, saying, “This is just weird, which is fine—I like weird” on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. But Rogan went on to ridicule comments made last month by Santino Pietrosanti, UK Brand Director at Jaguar Land Rover, during a speech at the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, an event sponsored by Jaguar and specifically celebrating queer cultural figures.
“We’re on a transformative journey of our own. Driven by a belief in diversity, inclusion, creativity, policy and, most importantly, action. We’ve established over 15 DEI groups such as Pride, which are here tonight, and Women in Engineering and Neurodiversity Matters,” Pietrosanti said, per Fox Business. “The press conference… is about inclusivity and all of this nonsense,” Rogan continued, seemingly mistaking Pietrosanti’s appearance at the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards for the Type 00’s December 2 press conference.
“Are you selling cars or not?” Rogan continued. “Why are you selling this political ideology? I thought you made sports cars.” Musk echoed a similar sentiment on X in his response to the official Jaguar account’s posting of the ad, which does not feature any automotobiles. “Do you sell cars,” the Tesla CEO posted. Jaguar responded, “Yes. We’d love to show you,” to which Musk replied, “I look forward to seeing your new vehicle lineup.”
Later, at the Type 00’s actual press conference, Jaguar Chief Creative Officer Gerry McGovern set up Jaguar’s pivot and pointed out Type 00’s wild design elements, including the new “Jaguar” text logo replacing the roaring monogram logo, the “strikethrough” horizontal lines repeated all over the body and the elongated hood, which breaks the convention of most EVs. He also teased an impressive 430 miles miles of range and 1,000 horsepower from “completely unique” Jaguar electric powertrains.
The Type 00 is one of three new models are set to debut in 2025 and 2026, as Jaguar touts the design vision concept in an “exuberant statement of things to come.” The Telegraph gushed that the new Jag was “simply breathtaking” and called it a “design triumph.” The shift in design, aesthetic, logo, production and overall outlook also impressed Robb Report, which noted that “no luxury carmaker has ever divorced itself from its past as comprehensively as Jaguar has” with the Type 00 concept and its future approach.
Of the forthcoming shift in production, Wired reports that a new four-door grand tourer will follow on the heels of the Type 00 design concept and will be available for purchase starting in the summer of 2026. The publication further notes that, according to the British automaker, “the look of the production SUVs will also not differ greatly from the style of the Type 00,” a surefire sign of massive change ahead.
Given the backlash to its buzzed-about relaunch, one imagines that the way forward for the heritage auto manufacturer doesn’t look nearly as smooth as its design team and leadership might have hoped. Time will certainly tell if a new generation of car enthusiasts gravitate toward the Jaguar of of the future.
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