Jaguar, it’s safe to say, has kicked up some dust. It will have been expecting that. Indeed, it has apparently gone out of its way to court a degree of controversy. Perhaps it would not have counted on quite so much vitriol - but a violent break with tradition, whether prudent or not, is very much the point. And in its version of the brave new EV world, it can comfort itself with the idea that changing the minds of a comparatively small proportion of prospective buyers is probably sufficient. Some of those people value the controversy that inevitably comes with breaking norms. Quite a lot of people, after all, paid good money for a Tesla Cybertruck.
Or that’s the working theory PH is going with at any rate. The first sign that Jaguar might be nervously biting its fingernails down to the cuticle is the unscheduled (in the sense that PH wasn't expecting it) release of a concept teaser image. This provides, on its social media channels particularly (where Jaguar has taken the bold decision to delete all its previous posts) a useful counterweight to the Copy Nothing launch video - a 30-second film seemingly custom-made to push people’s buttons. Given the 12-day wait for the full reveal, having something else for the internet to chew on is arguably no bad thing.
And there’s a lot here to get one’s teeth into. Officially, ‘the teaser image shows the rear detail of [Jaguar’s] Design Vision Concept that will inspire future Jaguars’. The car’s haunches, stretched dramatically far from the tapering roofline, appear enormous. Adjacent to them, and presumably mirroring the ‘strikethrough’ motif that Jaguar has already shown, is a highly conspicuous set of horizontal slats. The firm has boasted of its intent to ‘showcase bold forms and exuberant proportions’ - this would suggest that it has been true to its word.
Moreover, no tail lights are visible (not unprecedented in a concept) and nor is a rear screen - though it seems the bodywork is cut to imply the presence of one. There have been rumours previously that Jaguar would forgo the use of a conventional rear screen in favour of a digital rearview mirror; for the concept at least, it appears that speculation carries some weight. Whether or not all of this could be said to ‘recapture the ethos of founder Sir William Lyons to Copy Nothing’ is, of course, still open to rampant speculation. The teaser, the first concrete, undisguised glimpse of Jaguar’s ‘fearless creativity’ in action, is well primed to spark its own firestorm of opinion. The manufacturer has suggested it wants to embrace a brand character ‘that commands attention’. Job done. Let’s hope it knows what to do with it.
