First glimpse of Jaguar’s make-or-break £100k electric car as British firm gears up for EV-only rebrand in 2026

Jaguar has provided a first glimpse of what it’s all-electric future will look like from 2026.

The British manufacturer, which has stopped selling cars in the UK for 12 months, has released images of the battery-powered model it hopes will spearhead its EV rebrand.

Pictures show a heavily camouflaged prototype of its make-or-break electric car due to be released in 2026 as it embarks on the first phase of a top secret global testing programme that will run for months.

The four-door grand tourer (GT) will be one of three new premium EV models it has promised when it returns to the market following a temporary hiatus that it has described as a ‘sunset period’.

Prices will reportedly start from just under £100,000 – around double that of the average Jaguar on sale at the start of 2024.

The electric GT is part of Jaguar’s ‘Reimagine’ strategy to make it a fully electric and more upmarket luxury performance brand – but it is also seen as ‘Jaguar’s last chance saloon’.

According to briefings from chiefs and insiders last month, the GT – to be built at the firm’s Solihull factory and on sale from 2026 – is expected to be followed by a sleek two-door fastback coupe model and a large SUV – all nibbling at luxury performance car-maker Bentley’s heels.

However, before this production trio are launched, Jaguar will early next month reveal a separate radical ‘concept car’ encapsulating the essence of the new three-model Jaguar line up. 

Billed as its ‘Design Vision Concept’ – rather than an actual production car – the concept car is being unveiled during Miami Art Week on 2 December.

Bosses have conceded that they want to create a stir, that the concept car will be ‘jaw-dropping’ and ‘a copy of nothing’ and that it will likely divide opinion as surely as Marmite.

The electric GT is part of Jaguar’s ‘Reimagine’ strategy to make it a fully electric and more upmarket luxury performance brand – but it is also seen as ‘Jaguar’s last chance saloon’

Jaguar has confirmed that it has halted sales of all cars in the UK from November – the first time this has happened since the Second World War – as it embarks on a 12-month ‘sunset period’ in which it will transition into an EV-only luxury brand

Releasing three photographs of the new disguised electric Jaguar GT under test, the firm said it highlighted a prototype of the new Jaguar production car commencing ‘its first phase of global testing and development on public roads and test sites around the world’ with ‘tens of thousands of miles’ of virtual and physical testing already completed.

The company said: ‘Jaguar’s Reimagine strategy reaches a significant milestone with the first prototypes being tested on British roads as part of a comprehensive global testing and development programme.

‘Disguised prototypes of the first new Jaguar, an all-electric 4 door GT have completed tens of thousands of miles of virtual and physical testing and will soon be deployed at test sites and public roads around the world.

‘The first reimagined Jaguar will be built in Solihull in the UK on a dedicated electric architecture called JEA (Jaguar Electric Architecture).’

The four-door grand tourer will be one of three new premium EV models it has promised when it returns to the market following a temporary hiatus that it has described as a ‘sunset period’

Jaguar’s bold EV ambitions becoming a reality

As Jaguar winds down UK car sales for the next 12 months, this marks a critical time for the future of the British brand, which is part of JLR – Jaguar Land Rover – owned by India’s Tata conglomerate.

If cats really do have nine lives, many industry experts believe Jaguar, with roots going back to 1922, is risking its last one  by betting the house on an all-or-nothing gamble for its very existence.

Over recent months, Jaguar bosses have ‘teased’ tantalising details and disguised images of their plans – and this tedious drip-feeding will continue until the concept car is unveiled.

So far we have learned that the ‘radical’ sporting GT will be the most powerful Jaguar ever, look ‘carved’ from a single squared-off slab, with a bold flat front grille and razor-thin headlights and tail-lights, and a range of 435 miles.

It will be minimalist, clean, simplified, digital, with few if any buttons and be ‘a copy of nothing’.

Names for the new models will see ‘nods to our past but plenty of forward thinking’ but are yet to be teased.

If cats have nine lives, Jaguar has already used up a few of them… 

Automotive industry insiders have been critical of the direction and decisions made at Jaguar in the last decade or so.

It was late to invest in diesel engines – especially during the early 2000s when they were heavily incentivised due to their lower-than-petrol CO2 emissions – and was caught-out when the diesel market crashed following the dieselgate scandal breaking in 2015.

Its stunning £1million C-X75 hybrid supercar programme was axed in December 2012 on cost grounds – though the car appeared in the 2015 James Bond movie Spectre.

Jaguar using up its nine lives: Jaguar has performed U-turns on major electrified car projects in the last decade or so, including shelving the C-X75 hybrid supercar (left) in 2012 and culling a battery-powered XJ saloon (right) in 2021, just weeks ahead of when it was due to be unveiled

A planned all-electric flagship XJ saloon was canned in February 2021 – just weeks ahead of unveiling – and its last CEO Thierry Bolloré masterminding the Jaguar revival left unexpectedly at the end of 2022.

If its bold EV strategy fails, one last ditch option for Jaguar Land Rover and its Indian owners Tata conglomerate might be to sell-off the legendary British Jaguar arm to China. 

But so far JLR has resisted that option and insists Tata bosses are right behind its ‘Reimagine’ strategy.